The Write Race Chronicles
by Duncan's Dark Angel
Summary: Some short stories written for a TD writing contest I'm a part of on Facebook. (I own none of the characters used in these stories, nor anything relating to the Total Drama franchise.)
1. Next To You

"What's funny all of a sudden, huh?" Amy asks before she starts tickling her twin sister. The way the dress is cut, it's easy to get to the ticklish spots on her back.

Samey laughs again, much louder than she had moments ago, trying to push her sister's hands away. "C-Cut it out! It's nothing, I promise!"

"Yeah, right." Amy stops the assault, but only to turn her twin around so she can look into her eyes with a warm smile on her face. "You know you can tell me anything..."

A soft sigh escapes Samey before she nods her head. "I know. I'm sorry. I just..." She looks at the mirror behind her sister and turns her around so they're both looking at the same sight. "... Did you ever think this would be us, Amy?"

The twins had been in the little bridal shop for almost an hour now. In the mirror, they each stood in a white gown they'd helped each other choose. The sleeves of ivory lace drew attention to the rest of the chiffon gown Samey was wearing, with the beads adorning the bodice and the train that stretched a foot or less behind her. Amy, meanwhile, had become taken with a strapless gown also made of chiffon and with an equally long train, but the wrap around dress was much more simplistic in nature, the only embellishments being the crystals that stretched around the small area where the gown cinched at her waist.

Amy herself smiles at the reflection before her. "I never thought you'd fall in love with a dress so eye catching while I end up wanting one so plain if that's what you're asking." she teases, holding most of her hair into a messy bun with one hand.

Samey giggles before turning her sister back around to face her. "Be serious, Amy... We're about to have a double wedding. You and me of all people. We're helping each other pick out our dresses, and we haven't tried to tear each other's throats out yet." She sniffs a little, then looks at the floor as she wipes one of her eyes. "...I just...I can't believe this is us right now, you know?"

The teary eyed twin's chin is tilted just enough so she's looking into the eyes of her sister again. "I know, Sam. I know what you meant, and...you're right... It's unbelievable." Amy murmurs while wiping her sister's tears away. "I keep praying it's not just a dream."

"Same here." Samey's face falls as a memory runs through her head all of a sudden. "I mean...it wasn't the happiest of circumstances that got us here, but still..."

Any hint of a smile and all trace of color drained from Amy's face as she heard those words. It had been so many years ago, but even without direct reference to the accident, it felt like she was there again for a second. The thin air from the height of the cliff. The stones tripping her up as she foolishly tried traversing the terrain in heels. The violent smash of rock against bone that followed soon afterwards. "... I-I don't want to talk about that... Please don't talk about that..."

"Oh...I didn't mean to. I'm sorry." Samey hugged her twin and rubbed her back with both hands. "I wasn't trying to make you sad. This isn't a sad day. We should both be happy now. Everything's alright."

"You lost a leg, Sam..."

"And look how well I adjusted, right?"

"..."

Samey sighed before releasing her twin. Seeing the tears rolling down her face, she takes a moment to wipe them away with her thumbs. "...Let's just go. Jasmine and Taylor are waiting."

"Umm..." Amy wipes more tears away from her eyes and smiles sweetly. "You should go out first, actually. I...I need some time to calm down."

A soft smile crosses Samey's face before she shakes her head. "We go together. I'm not taking no for an answer."

"Really, you should go first." The mask of a smile breaks away from Amy's face and allows her to frown once again, staring at the black carpet beneath her feet. Her eyes inadvertently dart to where her sister's prosthetic leg hid under the dress, but she immediately snaps them shut so she doesn't have to see it in her mind again. Having it physically visible in front of her was bad enough. "...I don't deserve to be at your side, Sam..."

A thumb wipes away a tear rolling past her beauty mark before her chin is tilted this time. A smile bursting with more love than Amy would ever again feel like she deserved graced Samey's features as she stared into her eyes. "If that was true, we wouldn't be having a double wedding, now would we?"

Amy shrugged her shoulders. "I know, but-"

"Amy."

"Yes?"

"You need to remember something."

"... Like what?"

"You didn't make me save you from the avalanche. That was my choice to make." Samey's smile gets even wider. "And for everything it's caused...I absolutely do not regret it."

More tears stream down Amy's cheeks. This time, though, it's impossible for her not to smile. "... Thanks. I really needed to hear that." She gives her beloved twin a tight hug. "That doesn't mean I don't owe you my life, though."

"Like you'd ever let me forget." Samey breaks the hug to offer her hand to her sister. "Now, we really shouldn't keep our friends waiting anymore, should we?"

"I wouldn't dream of it." Amy takes her sister's hand, giving it a firm squeeze before they each pulled back one of the curtains and walked, side by side, out to where their friends were waiting to see them again.


	2. Oath of Blood

"Izzy, what the hell are you doing?!"

The wild redhead, dressed in a skin tight Catwoman costume for some reason, waved at Emma with the hand that held the now sealed glass vial she'd brought with her, but seeing said vial in her hand made her hide it behind her back. Waving with her other hand wasn't much better, though, as there was an unnecessarily large syringe in that one. Seeing this, she frantically stuffed both objects down her bra, only to wave to Emma with both hands this time. "'Sup, Emma?"

"'Sup?! I…you don't… What on earth are you doing in my bedroom?!"

"Oh, that's what you're worried about?" Izzy asked before sighing in relief and wiping some sweat from her forehead. "Whew! That's good. It'll be way easier to explain that than the bloo-…umm…I mean-"

"Blood?" Emma stood up from the bed, which had been too far from Izzy on the other side of the room for her to really tell what the two objects were that she'd been holding just now. "Did you take my blood?!"

"What? No, no! I was saying…Blood…y…Mary! Yeah, Bloody Mary! I totally met her once, you know? Want me to ask her to come over?" Izzy asked before running to the vanity on the opposite side of the room, to the left of Emma's bed. "Bloody Mary! Bloody Mary! Bloo-"

"IZZY!"

Turning around with wide, frantic eyes at the sound of her name, Izzy stared back at the woman demanding her attention and let a wide, clearly nervous smile stretch across her face.

Trying to ignore the fact that her dark purple, satin night dress left very little of her curvaceous body to the imagination, Emma snapped her fingers before holding that hand open. "Give them to me."

Izzy bit her lip and slowly shook her head. "I really don't think you want to-"

"Give. Them. Here."

The chilling demand forced Izzy to walk over to the bed and sit beside Emma. The stern look in her eyes made the redhead sigh heavily and pull down the zipper on her leather bodysuit just enough so she could reach down her bra again. She hesitated for a split second, but seeing the sharp glare in the other woman's eyes made another sigh escape her before she finally took them out.

Emma's fury turned to horror as she got a better look at the items being handed to her. The syringe had blood still dripping off of it, and the small, glass vial was halfway filled with what she could only assume was the same blood. "…Izzy…"

"It's not for me! I was asked to do it tonight specifically because the ritual calls for menstrual blood, and he said you usually-"

"Stop, Izzy!"

The redhead stopped talking, only to sigh and remove the hood with cat ears from her head so her fiery curls would be free to cascade down her back. "… I'm sorry, Emma…"

Glancing over the girl beside her was more than enough to tell Emma that she wasn't getting anything less than the truth. With a sigh of her own, she turned the green eyed girl to face her and stared into her eyes. "Izzy, listen to me. I'm not mad at you and I'll do my best to make sure you don't get into any trouble, but I need you to give me more information, ok? Tell me about the ritual, and…" She questioned whether or not she wanted to know this, but she ended up shaking the doubt out of her head and asking anyway. "… Where is it happening? I need to know where Noah's doing this."

Izzy stayed silent for a moment, then tucked all of her curls back under the hood of her outfit before rising to her feet and offering a hand to Emma. "… I think it'd be best if I just show you."

"Where is she?!" Noah started banging his head against the bark of the tree again, only to fall to his knees and start crying. "… She knows how important this is. If this doesn't happen tonight, I might never-"

"Noah, please calm yourself. This will never work if you're worked up like this." murmured Dawn, who the distressed man had invited to his home specifically to assist with this matter. She walked across the backyard, away from where she was setting up the ritual, to pat him on the shoulder and attempt to sooth him. "Izzy has never let you down before. She's your friend. She and I will both do what we must to help you."

Noah sighed deeply and nodded his head. "Yeah…I know…" He gently shrugged the hand off of his shoulder before staring up at the full moon casting as much light as it could over them from it's highest point in the night sky. "I just really want this to go right… Who knows when I'll see Emma again now that she's gotten into Columbia? I don't want there to be any solitary chance of losing her."

"New York really isn't that far…"

"It's literally in a separate country, Dawn."

"It's just across the border. I'm sure if your love is truly that strong, then she'll-"

"Are you backing out on me?!"

"I…" Slightly startled, Dawn took a step back and forced herself to shake her head. "Of course not… Your love clearly means a lot to you, and I do want to help…"  
Noah closed his eyes and took a few deep breaths, only stopping to nod his head when he was certain he'd calmed himself down. "Ok…that's all I needed to know…"  
Dawn sighed deeply. His aura was still frightening to be around, but at least he was in somewhat stable territory again. She was now hoping for Izzy's return much more than he was.

"… Hey, listen… I'm sorry. I know I'm not acting like myself right now. It's just…this is really important to me…"

Looking back up at the face of the tanned man who was only slightly taller than her, Dawn felt pure desperation coming off his aura in waves and saw that there was no appropriate course of action other than to pat him on the shoulder some more. "She'd never fully abandon you… I'm certain of that…"

After another moment of simply closing his eyes and breathing some more, Noah's hard and serious demeanor returned and he crossed the backyard to kneel over the remaining materials that had been gathered for the spell. "… Hopefully, this will make certain of that."

Disappointment clouded Dawn's eyes as she watched him, though it was quickly replaced by relief when she heard footsteps coming their way. Turning toward the sound, her eyes widened at who she saw joining them, but she still decided to say the words that had been on her tongue since she heard the footfalls mere seconds ago. "… Noah…she's here."

"Finally! Izzy, bring the blood over here. I want to get this done fast." Noah snapped, not bothering to turn around yet since he was too busy looking between the moon overhead and the ritual supplies before him.

A voice scoffed at the display. Familiar, but certainly not belonging to Izzy. "And I thought my old obsession problem was bad…"

Noah's blood immediately ran cold. It couldn't be…

He slowly looked over his shoulder, then rose to his feet upon seeing Izzy, still in costume, standing beside the silhouette a much more full figured young woman. One which he knew far too well. "… E-Emma?"

Not having bothered to arrive in more than a satin robe that matched the skimpy night dress underneath, Emma looked at Noah with a bizarre mix of indifference and disgust filling her eyes. "… This is the last straw, Noah." she murmured before pulling her phone out of her pocket.

"No… Emma, please, no!"

Before he could even move to stop the call from being made, Izzy tackled Noah to the ground. He writhed under her until the eerily straight face of the blonde with them was suddenly above him, gazing down at him with just as much contempt as Emma. "… Traitors…both of you!"

Dawn closed her eyes and sighed before looking at him again, this time with eyes overflowing with concern. "I said we'd do everything in our power to help you, did I not?" She doesn't wait for an answer before nodding to the crazy redhead.

"Night night." Izzy followed the last words Noah would hear for hours by swiftly striking a pressure point in his neck. All words the young man could have screamed died on his lips as the darkness of night slowly swallowed him whole.

"And that was the end of it… After he was arrested, I didn't hear a thing about him again for…God, it's been so long now."

"Three and a half years if I counted correctly."

Emma sighs as she keeps assisting her once fellow Columbia co-ed, Courtney, adjusting her graduation cap and valedictorian stole for her. "… Yeah."

"And you're only just deciding to get a restraining order? You graduated last year. You're qualified to have taken care of this yourself by now."

"Give me a break, Courtney. He's been locked away for years. I never expected to see or hear from him again after that, but…" Emma sighs and sits on Courtney's bed in her dorm room. "… I can't believe he broke out…"

"Well, don't worry. I've set up a meeting with my lawyers for tomorrow afternoon. We'll have it ready before you know it." Courtney insists before smiling at a prospect that pops into her head all of a sudden. "And maybe we can talk them into finding positions for us to fill at the firm while we're at it."

Emma laughs and hugs the future graduate tightly. "You can find a way to turn literally anything into an opportunity for yourself, can't you?"

"Welcome to law and politics, Emma." Courtney retorts, winking at her former dorm mate before joining in the laughter.

After they finish chuckling together, Emma looks over Courtney's graduation robes one more time and smiles wider in approval. "… You look perfect. You'll amaze everyone just by looking so beautiful, let alone when they hand over the diploma and five hundred plus awards you've earned since you got here."

A giggle escapes Courtney before she takes in the way her dear friend's red dress clings to her body. She blushes the instant she realizes just how much she's staring. "… You look amazing, too...as usual."

"Thanks, but this is your day, remember?" Emma reminds her friend before standing up and taking the brunette's hands so she can help her do the same. "It isn't about me."

"You being my classmate all these years is such a huge part of what even got me here in the first place." Courtney tells her before pulling her friend into another hug. "Honestly...this day is as much yours as it is mine..."

Emma chuckles before returning the tight hug. "If you say so."

"I mean it, Emma. Your guidance has been absolutely integral to my success here…" Courtney looks up into her friend's dark, almond eyes, brushing away a strand of hair that had fallen from the messy bun in the back of her head. "… I couldn't be more grateful to you…and I really want to be there for you in return."

"Aww…" Emma's complexion flushes slightly as she listens to what's being said to her. "Courtney, really, you don't have to-"

Everything stops the moment that first motion is made.

There's no sound to be heard. No sight to be seen.

All that exists is the softness of Courtney's lips against Emma's.

The former's eyes are closed, though they still allow a tear to escape as her whole body trembles with either fear or excitement. Or both.

The latter, meanwhile, has her eyes completely wide open, with little to no idea how to respond.

Only when the gravity of the situation really dawns on her does Courtney allow her eyes to burst open. Immediately, she backs away from Emma, her tanned, freckled face quickly catching fire as she stares at the woman before her.

Emma looks back at her friend for a few moments, then narrows her eyes slightly before grabbing her by the shoulders.

"L-Look, Emma, I'm really, really sorry! I know this so isn't the time or place to have done something like this. I honestly don't even know what got into me. I'd ordinarily never do something so-"

"Stop talking, Courtney." No other warning is given before Emma plants a kiss of her own on her freckle-faced friend.

Courtney's knees wobble underneath her the instant she feels those soft, red stained lips on hers, but she's thankfully able to wrap her arms around her before she can fall. When her mind finally registers what's happening, she returns the kiss full force, holding Emma's curves tighter against her own body.

Mere moments into this second kiss, however, two alarms suddenly go off. Frantic, the girls pull apart, one reaching for a phone and the other for a PDA. After checking their devices, they stare back up at each other, wide eyed. "The graduation ceremony!"

Without thinking, Courtney jumps onto Emma's back. This would be the last time doing so when they were both late for a Columbia related affair, but she hopes what just happened meant that it wouldn't be the last time overall. "Hurry! We're gonna be late!"

Emma laughs and easily carries Courtney on her back, heading out the door of the room to find the nearest elevator. "You're so lucky I like you enough to do this stuff for you, Courtney!"

"Shut your mouth and run!"


	3. Stolen

"I want to get rid of her...and I could really use your advice."

Who knows what might have happened if those words hadn't been spoken the night before?

That's rhetorical, of course. Nobody could know that. Not really.

People could know the truth, though, and somehow, they just don't. Not yet, anyway.

But that's about to change.

"I seriously can't believe this, Emma!" Courtney paced back and forth on the sandy beach in front of her girlfriend of several months, digging her nails into her scalp as she tried and failed to contain her disappointment, rage and outright disgust. "You're the one person I counted on to help us win this challenge, and you ruined it! Thanks to you, we're both at risk of getting sent home!"

Emma rolled her eyes as she sat slightly closer to the water, staring out to where the sands met the undoubtedly icy waves. "If one of us could keep our lips to ourselves, none of this would have even happened."

"Alejandro kissed me! Not the other way around!" Courtney snapped, turning to shoot daggers into the older girl's back with her eyes as she explained that for what felt like the thousandth time in the past hour. "I was trying to get him off of me! I told you that!"

Emma crossed her arms and looked over her shoulder, matching the brunette's fiery glare with the coldest gaze she could muster. It wasn't nearly as easy being on the receiving end of her love's anger as it was watching her unleash it on someone else. Nor was it nearly as erotic. "If you had a better track record of being honest with me, then maybe I would be more inclined to trust you on that."

Listening to those words carefully made Courtney scoff before a cruel chuckle escaped her lips. "... Of course. This doesn't have anything to do with Alejandro, does it?"

"He didn't necessarily help matters, but still..."

"Duncan and I don't have anything going on. I've told you that a hundred times since we got here."

"Which means you shouldn't have felt the need to lie to me about going to talk to him."

"Of course I did! If I told you I went to vent to him about how much of a jealous lunatic you've been recently, we'd have gotten into a fight about that, too!" Courtney sighed and looked at the sand getting into her shoes, crossing her arms over her chest. "Not that we'd need much help in that department anyway..."

Emma's face softened and she reached out to take her love's hands in hers. "... Courtney, why couldn't you have just talked to me about how you've been feeling? You know I would have listened."

"..."

"Courtney?"

The smaller brunette snatched her hands back, refusing to look up at the woman before her. "... You wouldn't have believed me anyway."

"... What?"

"It's like you said, right? 'I'm a lawyer. I can lie with the best of them.'"

Emma winced at being reminded about that before shaking her head. "I shouldn't have said that. I was just really upset. Seeing him around you freaks me out... I know you said I don't have to, but I can't help it. He has no business being around you if he doesn't like you anymore."

"He's my friend, Emma. He's proven to me that that's all it is." Courtney lets go of her hands. "I just wish you'd listen to me... I'm a grown woman. I know what I'm doing."

"It's not you I'm worried about. You're smart. But I can tell something's off about him, Courtney. I don't know what exactly, but every time he's near you, it just-"

"Stop... Please stop."

The near lack of emotion in those words spoke volumes to Emma. She knew exactly where this was going. She sighed heavily, turning to face the sun setting over the water and hugging her knees to her chest. She couldn't even look out there for very long before she had to bury her face in her kneecaps and take deep breaths to force the sobs down so they didn't leave her throat.

Razor sharp pain pierced Courtney's heart as the girl she'd loved sat there in a little ball just a few feet away from her. Why? Why her? She could have hurt anyone else with no regrets, but...Emma... "... L-Look, Emma, I didn't mean-"

"You've got to cast your vote soon. You'd better hurry."

"... You're on the team, too."

"What does it matter? Everyone's going to pick me after what I did, and either way, I lose you, so...it's over now..."

"Emma...i-it might be ok. Maybe-"

"Just leave!" Emma screamed, finally turning her body around to fully face the brunette as she stared at her with eyes full of resentful tears. "Go on! Leave me! That's what you want to do anyway, isn't it?!"

Courtney was taken aback, but regained enough composure to slowly shake her head. "... N-No... I didn't say-"

Emma screamed at the top of her lungs before kicking her shoes off and in the general direction of the brunette's face. "Fine! I'll go, then!"

"W-Wait, Emma! … EMMA!"

It wouldn't help, though. Emma refused to stop running away. She'd keep running until her feet bled if she had to. At least until she knew she was alone.

Solitude came, but seeing where she'd ended up only made her feel worse. This cliff, which overlooked the beach and had the clearest view of the sunset on the entire island, had become her and Courtney's private retreat since they arrived here. Many a kiss, planning strategy and sleepless night had been spent up here. It was once Emma's favorite place in the world. Knowing she might never share a moment in this place with the woman she loved again...it was enough to make her fall to her knees and softly cry to herself, some part of her hoping she'd never be found.

This is the moment everyone's been talking about. The moment before Emma's "fall from glory" if you will.

What wasn't shown, however, was the shadowy figure hiding among the trees several feet away, just watching on as she broke down in tears. They waited until she curled herself into a ball and rolled onto her side before moving away from the foliage surrounding them.

Emma tried to take some deep breaths and pick herself up, but before she can even make a move to get off the ground, she sees the familiar figure approaching her and is too stunned to do anything other than try to speak. "... What the hell are you do-"

"Shh... Rest now, chica." That's all Alejandro whispered to her before letting his foot push her over the edge of the cliff.

This has all happened around the time night has fallen. The time of the elimination ceremony.

While the scene at the cliff was happening, Courtney, Jasmine, Shawn, Trent, Samey, and one male that wasn't a member of the team, Duncan, were waiting for a verdict from Chris. Despite Courtney, two interns and even Chef trying to point something out to him, he ignored all of them and called out the names of the teammates that would be staying, starting with who got the least votes as always. Only when he was about to announce the loser did he pay attention to the wide hipped elephant in the room...or not in the room as it turned out.

"And so, Courtney and Emma, with the rest of your teammates saved, it's all come down to-" The dark haired man looked up from his notecards, only to slowly glare as he realized Duncan was sitting next to Courtney and not the brunette's girlfriend. "Duncan, you're not even on this team! What are you doing here? And where's Emma?"

"That's what we've been trying to tell you, old man. She's missing." Duncan growled as he rubbed the panicked looking Courtney's back, much like he'd been doing since his arrival to the bonfire.

Chris looks around to see both Chef Hatchet and two interns glaring at him from a few feet away from his podium. Even as it dawns on him that he's ignored them when they were going to tell him something this important, he simply groaned and tossed his notecards into the fire. "Well, I can't deliver the crushing news about her girlfriend being kicked out if she isn't here. Where is she?"

"One of your contestants is missing and possibly dead somewhere, and all you care about is making sure you devastate her?! What kind of host are you?!" Courtney didn't really need to ask that question. She knew the answer. Everyone did. She just needed to yell at somebody.

Duncan's eyes were set ablaze well before the brunette spoke, but he waited for her to speak before standing up and saying his own part. "And what the hell was Courtney voted out for?! She didn't do anything wrong!"

"Don't shoot the messenger, man. I'm just reading what I have...err...had." Chris said, about to hold up the note cards with the team's votes on them before realizing he'd fed the bonfire with them moments ago.

Courtney screamed before rising to her feet as well. "What is the matter with you people?! None of this matters right now! Are we not going to do something about the fact that Emma is missing?!" Her yelling didn't stop her from being nervous, though. She was still so anxious, in fact, that she started pacing the ground and muttering to herself in an attempt to retrace her own steps from earlier in the evening. As if doing that would help her think of where Emma could have gone.

Duncan sighed and stepped in front of his friend to stop her dead in her tracks. "Stop that, ok? You're only succeeding in freaking the others out." He said, pointing to Samey in particular as she received comfort from a concerned Jasmine and Trent.

"I can't help it, Duncan!" Courtney bit her lip and started pacing again. "It's not like Emma to be this late for anything, and I haven't seen her since that huge fight we had on the beach. I can't help but be worried sick. What if something-"

"Courtney." Duncan firmly grabs the brunette by the shoulders and looks into her eyes as he speaks to her this time. "I'm sure she's ok. She's probably just looking for her sister so she can vent to her about what's been going on."

"I...I don't know... Maybe?" It didn't really add up in Courtney's head. Emma tried to limit her interactions with Kitty as much as possible since they were on separate teams now, and even if she'd gone looking for her, would she have really been away this long knowing an elimination was tonight? Still...Duncan's voice had soothed her enough to at least give it some thought.

"Just relax, ok? I'm sure Emma's perfectly fi-"

"AAAAHHHH!"

Blood curdling screams were already pretty common place on this show. It was recognizing the voice that made Courtney's eyes pop out of her head. "... EMMA!"

Then came the part everyone thinks they know all about. The paralyzed Emma being pushed away on a stretcher.

"Well...Emma... Your girlfriend here was the one who was supposed to be sent home, but considering...this..." Chris motioned to the entirely of Emma's body, which had been paralyzed from the hips downwards since she was found where she had fallen down-on the beach just below the cliff she'd been hiding on some time ago. She was supposedly just suffering from spinal shock. At least they hoped so. "Your teammates-and our legal department-have decided that you can't continue like this. So, instead of Courtney leaving, you're gonna get out of here and get yourself checked out. Any questions?"

Emma, who had been strapped down to a black and red stretcher somewhat improperly and, as such, as straps over her mouth, couldn't properly answer the question, but she attempted to do so anyway. "Ahmnhndru... Ahmnhndru!"

"I'm sure you can continue, Emma, but like I said, legal department. I know you'd understand that, right? Good." Chris said, patting Emma on the head and looking only slightly less nonchalant than he should have in a situation this dire.

The full figured lawyer continued screaming through the straps as interns pushed her stretcher onto a boat, but she stopped when she saw her favorite freckled brunette running towards her. The sight of her eased her spirit ever so slightly, but she didn't know whether that was an appropriate reaction at this point.

Seeing a mohawked punk hot on her heels made her decide it wasn't.

"Emma!" Courtney cried into the older girl's chest for a split second before lifting her head and looking into her eyes. "You'll be ok, right? ... Why am I even asking? You don't know the answer to that anymore than I do..." She wiped her eyes and sniffled as softly as she could, trying not to worry the injured young woman. "... I just can't believe this is happening... I didn't want to make you..."

Emma shook her head, trying to explain herself again. "Nmm, Crnny! Ahmnhndru rrr mrr rff rrr-"

"Courtney, Duncan, make it quick! She's gotta get out of here quick if she's gonna get any better."

Hearing Chris call to her made Courtney roll her eyes before looking into Emma's eyes and running her fingers through her hair. "Get better for me, ok? I want to see my M&M back on her feet as soon as possible." she murmured, kissing her fellow lawyer on the forehead before leaving the boat.

Emma blushed slightly at the kiss on the forehead. Maybe there was some hope to fix this after all.

Duncan made a quick trip onto the boat, his eyes filled with concern. "How you holding up in here, Emma? ... Courtney's worried sick about you, so...hopefully you'll be alright..."

The Asian woman sighed behind the strap stopping her from talking. Why'd he have to be so nice to her right now after she'd spent so much time badmouthing him? It made her feel like crap.

It'd be ok, though, she decided. As soon as she was healed up, she'd speak to Courtney again and apologize for her mistake. Duncan was a good guy. If she gave him another chance, she'd do the same for him.

That's the moment the green haired punk smiled at her, the worry in his eyes shattering like glass under the impact of a baseball. "I mean...Alejandro agreed to make sure you were able to fully recover from whatever he ended up doing, so I hope he kept that promise. Otherwise, I'll have to stop going to him for advice, I guess."

And there went any and all respect Emma had for Courtney's old flame. Her eyes widened in shock for a brief moment, but a raging fired slowly but surely welled inside them as her eyes started overflowing with tears. Had Courtney really loved a monster like this once?

"Duncan, the boat's gonna leave with you on it if you don't move!"

"That's my cue, Almond." Duncan muttered softly, referring to the shape of Emma's eyes. He tugged on the strap over her mouth, just barely freeing it for a moment. "You get better. I'll keep Courtney nice and warm for you."

"You dirty-!"

Emma's words were cut short when the strap suddenly snapped back in place over mouth, and the hand that had been holding it waved a teasing goodbye to her before the rest of the body hopped off the boat and back onto the dock where his supposed "friend" was waiting for him. She used the functioning muscles in her upper body to try and free herself, but to no avail. Even if she could have freed herself, the nurses on board stopped her from flailing about before she could hurt herself or anyone else. Despite their best efforts, though, they couldn't stop her from sending a muffled scream into the night sky.

Duncan, meanwhile, had just finished hugging a sobbing Courtney as she cried on his shoulder, rubbing her back as she slowly but surely calmed herself down. "It's gonna be ok, Courtney. She'll come back to you. You'll be fine."

"Sh...she... They're saying she was trying to kill herself, Duncan... I-It's my fault..." Courtney sniffed and wiped her eyes as she repeated the lie that so many others would fall for after she said it. In her broken emotional state, she tightened her hold on her ex-boyfriend, hardly paying enough attention to realize what she was doing. "It's...all m-my fault…"

"Hey, don't talk like that. It's not your fault, Princess. Promise." Duncan pulled back just enough to tilt the brunette's chin and look into her eyes with an affectionate smile. "How about I walk you to your cabin, ok? It's late. You need some sleep."

"It'll be a miracle if I can get any..." Courtney murmured, though she still followed Duncan's lead and wandered back toward her cabin with him at her side. She sighed heavily and leaned into him, her mind more on the boat leaving the island and the woman it was taking away from her. "... It's got to be my fault... She wouldn't have jumped if it wasn't for me..."

Fighting to keep a smirk off his face, Duncan rubbed the C.I.T. turned lawyer's shoulder before slowly letting his hand wander down to her waist, hoping she'd enjoy it or be too devastated to notice. "So Emma kind of got...pushed in the wrong direction... I'm sure that wasn't your fault, Princess."

"I hope so, Duncan... I really hope so..."

And there you have it. The full story. No hidden secrets. No attempted suicide B.S. Everything's on the table. Do with it what you will.

Who am I? Oh, just the actually dependable eyes and ears you've been waiting for. The one with the power and desire to give you the uncensored truth. Being behind the scenes has more perks than you'd expect.

But for now, just call me Billy. Let me know if there's any other info a simple intern like me could find for you. I hope we'll meet again someday.


	4. Thank You, Liz

12/06/2015

Elizabeth Swan is my best friend. We tell each other everything, and we've tried a few different things together already, too.

Like how we spent all of November taking part in and encouraging each other through National Novel Writing Month. Even if that was a little stressful, we were always there for each other and we still had a good time.

We didn't plan this, though. We had each entered without even knowing the other would do so.

I remember how thrilled I was that we were both doing this together. It was going to be NaNoWriMo all over again.

Sure, I had my other friend, Shawna, entering, and I was probably going to make a new friend or two among the other contestants by the time this was all over, but it was infinitely more exciting knowing my best friend would be along for the ride, too.

I was sure we'd go far together. And when one of the two of us won, we'd celebrate. It was going to be perfect.

And then, today, I find out that she's been eliminated.

I shouldn't be all too upset about it. I won first place and immunity today.

I should be happy.

I am happy.

It just...it isn't the same as it should have been.

Still, since she's sick right now and probably fast asleep trying to shake the illness off, I decide I may as well tell her what happened. She'll see the results when she eventually wakes up, but I wanted to be the first to tell her about it.

"I won the first challenge! This is awesome! :D"

I start typing a message saying I feel bad that she was eliminated, but I stop myself. She's typing a response already. I thought she was sick…

A heavy sigh escapes my mouth before I start typing a new message, telling her she should go back to sleep. But before I can even send that one, her response has already popped up on my screen.

"I knew you would."

A wide smile spreads across my face. She was always supportive, but...this…

I sigh again and start editing my response to thank her and tell her we should both go to sleep. She'll know she was eliminated by tomorrow. We'll talk about it then. I don't want to make her sad while she's fighting off a sickness. She's already got enough problems.

12/23/2015

Third place.

I came in third place today.

Why does that bother me so much?

I was much prouder of my story this round than the last one. I guess the ego I never really knew I had was expecting to win gold twice in a row. My mistake.

Naturally, I'm proud of everyone who did better than me and disappointed to see people leave, but...something just keeps eating away at me. Telling me that this isn't good enough. That I can do so much better.

I'm not third place material.

I'm not a runner-up.

I'm a winner.

This is unacceptable.

I sigh heavily and shake my head. If I let these thoughts eat away at me like this, I'm going to go crazy. I need to calm down.

I leave a few comments, saying how I'm glad to still be here and in the top three again, but certainly not letting my guard down. There's more malice behind those words than I'm prepared to admit to. This isn't me. Why am I getting so worked up?

Maybe playing a game will help me calm down. Something where I can beat up monsters or something.

Like DC Universe? Hmm...maybe. I haven't played that in a while.

Before I decide on whether I really want to do that, though, I start looking through my messages. Mostly the ones between me and Elizabeth. I think I already sent her the story I wrote for this round, but I'm thinking of asking her exactly what she thought. If it was better than my last one or if I could have done better.

Well after finding evidence that I had, in fact, sent her a link to the Google Doc with my Courtney and Emma story, I stop at some messages between us three days ago. It was when I hadn't even started writing the story yet and couldn't figure out what I was going to do. Split up Noah and Emma? I like that couple. Plus I couldn't think of anyone to pair either of them with at the time. How was I going to pull that off?

"Noah could fall in love with one of the genius girls lol" she'd wrote to me.

"Eh maybe. I don't know." I'd answered.

"just an idea lol"

"Thanks for trying to help."

"your welcome"

I giggle a little bit as I read through that blurb from our conversation that morning. I remembered there was a time before Nemma even happened that I thought about the possibility of Noah forming a romance/rivalry with Ellody. A rehash of Aleheather and Duncney probably, but I thought it would have been cute at the time.

I didn't end up using her suggestion, but the fact that she'd tried to help me at all...that made me so happy.

Though not fully calmed down yet, I smile before closing my web browser and clicking on the DC Universe icon on my desktop. Elizabeth isn't online yet anyway, so I decide to play until she comes back. I never ask her to compare my two stories. Does it even matter anymore? I love both stories and they both got me into the final six. Besides, she'll probably gush over my Courtney and Emma piece anyway. She's a sucker for cute, romcom style endings like that.

1/3/2016

How?

That's the only thing my mind is capable of thinking whenever I look at the elimination chart Aldhair updated last night. How?

How in the name of all things holy did that story get me into second place?

Forget the fact that Matthew won gold instead of me for the second time in a row. I was convinced my story was a complete trainwreck by the time I was done. How and why was it good enough to beat out everyone else's, let alone give me the second highest score for this round?

That being said, the score is 9.2 and technically the worst of my three scores.

I don't care about that now, though. I'm so happy to have even made it here.

Plus, looking back, I realized I stayed "on the podium" throughout the entire competition, bouncing between first, second and third place the whole time...though not necessarily in that order.

That makes me feel...accomplished for some reason. I haven't even started my final story at this point, but just knowing where I am and how consistent I've been the entire time… I feel so awesome just thinking about that.

After staring at the elimination table again, I look at Elizabeth's latest message to me. She sent it in the middle of the night during a conversation I must have been too tired to retain the memory of, so I still haven't responded yet.

Naturally, I told her I made it to the finale as soon as I possibly could. "I thought you'd want to know I'm going to the finale. I hated my story and thought I was going to be leaving, so I'm pretty happy. XP"

And naturally, she cheered me on and let me know she'd had the utmost confidence in me the whole time. "I knew you would be. :D"

"Aww thanks. ^_^"

"youll win"

"I hope so."

"I know so"

My heart still turned into a puddle of overly sentimental goo after reading through that snippet of our little talk maybe six times in a row this afternoon. I considered going for a seventh, but I didn't want to lose anymore time. It's past 4:00 PM and I have until nighttime to get this story in. I had to write.

But not before giving Liz some news.

News I think she'll be really happy about.

"You've been really awesomely supportive of me, even after you got eliminated from this contest yourself. I really appreciate it, so I decided this last story is going to be for you. The challenge was to write about how I felt going through each stage of this competition and you've been helping me and supporting me a lot the whole time, so I'm basing this on the conversations we've had about it. I'll show you what I wrote when I'm done."

I sigh in relief after hitting send. I should have let it be a surprise, but...I know me. That would have been torture. I can never keep a secret from my best friend for very long.


	5. The Trouble With Prudence

Early to bed, early to rise. That's one motto Sanders had been trained to live by for years.

And yet, despite being up in the middle of the night speaking to her training officer at the police academy and packing up all of her things while her roommate—or now ex-roommate—was fast asleep, she still was up, dressed and out of the room at roughly 5:30 AM.

Sanders would have liked to believe it was just an internal tick at this point in her life. She'd spent a good part of her childhood and the entirety of her adolescence having to wake up even earlier than this, after all.

But...no. If anything, the dark, slender young woman knew she could only blame any of this on her own nervousness. Her awakening being significantly early for any school day; her folding and refolding of her clothes the night before that ended in her frustratedly just stuffing everything into her police academy issued duffel bag and suitcase; her new habit of checking over her shoulder every few moments to see if a certain fiery brunette was awake or even anywhere near her. She knew all of this was a result of her own paranoia, but she hadn't bothered to stop. It would help her in the long run, she'd figured. In a situation like this, she needed to be really careful.

Sanders took as many precautions as possible to avoid the slightest possibility of being detectable. She had even gone as far as to beg the taxi driver to drive her to the nearest bus station for free just so there was no record of her having to pay anyone to get there. Anything to reduce her chances of being caught.

Of course, this didn't stop the good natured ex trainee from feeling bad and apologizing profusely to the cab driver while trying to pay him in cash. He wouldn't take it, though, no matter how much she tried. He simply told her that he understood her situation and insisted she get going before she was late for her bus. That made the young woman smile even as she watched him drive away from the station. She'd never forget that man's kindness.

That was nearly an hour ago, though. Now that she had her bags packed onto the bus and was looking for somewhere to sit where she could be alone, Sanders honestly had no clue what she was so worried about. Even if the one person she didn't want to find her found out what happened and managed to follow her here, she had no way of knowing where the awol cadet was going.

" _You'll be fine, ok? Just take it easy. You'll be at the lake house with dad really soon and we'll figure out everything there. You're fine. Everything's going to be fi-"_

The internal pep talk was halted by the sound of screeching tires, promptly followed by a thunderous crash. Everyone on the bus darted to a window to see what was happening, including Sanders herself. After subconsciously pulling someone out of her way so she could be close to the window, Sanders saw all she needed to see: a yellow taxi, now severely dented in the front, practically fused with the back of another bus, and the door of the cab opening to reveal the livid, crimson face of the very woman she was trying to get away from.

" _God damn it, MacArthur... As if you aren't in enough trouble as it is."_

 _It was less than an hour ago that MacArthur was called into the office of her and Sanders' training officer. Upon her return to their dorm room, she completely lost it. She first reacted in anger, walking around their bunk bed and screaming at the top of her lungs before landing several punches on a certain spot in the wall. There was already a dent there, started when she'd gotten angry about having a roommate forced on her and simply needed to "punch something until her hands went numb" on her first day several months back. It had slowly gotten bigger over the course of her time there, and right now, she was only making it worse._

 _Finally, after Sanders helped her calm down, the two sat on the bottom bunk of their bed, MacArthur laying her head in Sanders' lap as the thinner young woman fed her some ice cream. The latter had no clue how her roommate was able to sneak tubs of ice cream into their closet and keep them this cold in the first place, but she didn't bother questioning it. With what she, and now the police academy, knew about MacArthur's past, she was sure she wouldn't like the answer anyway._

 _Seeing her roommate-no, her friend in a state like this nearly made Sanders sick to her stomach. The reality that she was being kicked out of the academy and might be forced to return to the fruit smuggling operation her mother ran, the one she'd been so determined to put an end to once she was a full fledged officer, had destroyed MacArthur emotionally. Sanders was happy that holding onto her and feeding her ice cream was helping her feel better, but it didn't feel like enough. She had to contribute to the solution somehow. She'd never forgive herself if she didn't._

 _After holding her tongue about it for a little while, Sanders finally suggested MacArthur try and find an apartment nearby that she could stay in. Not that she expected that to work. The brunette probably already rejected that idea if she was sure the only option she had was going back to her mother. She just thought it might lead to them finding better ideas on where her friend could go that wouldn't involve returning to the criminal lifestyle she once lived._

 _And then, MacArthur rolled her eyes and scoffed. "That's trust fund baby mentality if I ever heard it."_

 _The sudden quaking of the bed startled Sanders in complete spite of, or perhaps because of, the fact that she'd caused it. When MacArthur looked up at her, also apparently stunned, the more slender member of the duo cast an icy glare straight into her friend's eyes. The freckled young woman's trembling hand was still gripping the spoon she'd just jammed into the tub of ice cream. "... Don't ever talk to me like that again."_

 _MacArthur's eyes remained wide as she stared up at the other police cadet, her own head still in the other's lap. "... I...I didn't-"_

" _We both worked our hardest to be here, Valentina Escobar. I know you're upset, but I'm not going to sit here and let you belittle everything I've done to get into this academy in the first place. Do you understand me?"_

" _... Sorry."_

 _Before her irritation could get the best of her, Sanders took a deep breath and started running her fingers through her friend's ponytail a few times. She couldn't stay mad at her in general, but knowing what her friend was going through right now, it definitely wasn't an option. Besides, she could tell the apology was sincere. "... Calling you that really wasn't necessary."_

" _Forget it." MacArthur stared at the bottom of the bunk above them before closing her eyes and letting another sigh escape her lips. "... You could get an apartment close to hear in a heartbeat if you felt like it, Sanders. I had to scrape together tips and stolen money for months just to be able to be here. And since I cut ties with my family, I just..." She slowly opened her dark eyes again, gazing into the equally pitch black ones looking down at her. "I wouldn't belittle you on purpose. Ever. Not after all you've put up with from me."_

" _No, I get it... If you can't get that kind of money together in time, you just can't." The look on Sanders' lightly freckled face clearly spelled out her own guilt. Her poker face was never all that great. She looked down at her friend and kept running her fingers through the soft brown ponytail. "I'm just... I'm trying to look at this from as many angles as possible. There's got to be a solution. I... I'd really hate for you to go back to that life."_

 _For a split second, the dark skinned cadet could see the almost awestruck gaze in her former race partner's eyes as she looked up at her, but it disappeared as quickly as it came. The brunette tore her eyes away and huffed a little, fixing her gaze on the mattress being held above them. "Yeah...you and me both."_

While everyone else on the bus speculated on what was going on, Sanders didn't hesitate. She elbowed her way through the crowd, ran down the aisle and jumped off the bus, wide eyes scanning the area for any sign of her friend. She didn't have to wait long.

"There you are!"

Before she could see where the voice was coming from, the lightweight cadet was easily picked up and pinned to the side of the bus she was just on. Looking up, she was unsurprised to see the blazing eyes and bright red face of a furious Valentina Escobar. Even in the face of all of this anger, though, the smaller woman remained calm enough to speak to her with a straight face. "At least we know that, in place of police work, you could be an incredibly successful taxi driver."

MacArthur responded by slamming her fist into the side of the bus, right beside the freckled young woman's head. It somehow made her even angrier that the other woman barely even flinched. She didn't have time to worry about that, though. She reached down her shirt and pulled out a slip of paper. "What the hell is this?!"

Only upon seeing what the paper was did Sanders' expression finally change. Her eyes widened upon seeing the letter she had received from her training officer last night, formally stating that she was quitting the police academy. As if knowing this document existed didn't bring her close to projectile vomiting as it was, now she had to actually look at it well before she'd intended to do so.

But, wait...that couldn't be right. Sanders distinctly remembered checking before her shower this morning to see that the letter was still in her duffel bag and in it's envelope. Unless... "Did you steal that from my bag?!" Now it was her turn to get angry.

MacArthur slammed her fist into the bus again, crumpling the letter as a result. "Answer me, Sanders!" Part of her was starting to feel bad, but she refused to relent. Not until she got answers.

A heavy sigh escaped Sanders as she rubbed the temples on either side of her head. Lake house trip or not, she refused to put up with this nonsense so early in the morning. "I don't have time for this, Escobar."

"So now, you can't make time for someone you care about who's worried sick about you? Is that it?!"

"That's not what I-"

"There's no God given reason you of all people should just quit police training, and you know it! You were literally bred and trained for this practically since birth! You work way too hard every day at this to just give it up for no reason!"

"I have-"

"Do you even remember how angry your family would get over this?! Nothing is worth letting them and yourself down like that, Sanders! No! Thing!"

"If you'd just-"

"And you still won't tell me what the hell this Brody thing is about! Ever since we got home, you started acting all weird whenever I would mention him, and then you flipped out when I said I wanted to ask if he'd hide me, and...just...AGH! It doesn't make any damn sense! He's done literally NOTHING wrong to you, and you just-"

Finally, as she was suddenly pulled forward, MacArthur's tirade ended. She tried to decide if it was a good thing that she was stopped by the feeling of her race partner's lips pressing against her own. She couldn't decide on that for a while, honestly. The way her mind was racing, she'd consider it a miracle if she was able to speak in coherent sentences in the next ten minutes.

Sanders kept her eyes shut, counting the seconds off in her head as she kept holding the larger brunette close to her by her long ponytail. Some part of her regretted what she was doing, but there was nothing she could do about it now. She'd made her intentions clear. She figured she may as well let it be known just how certain of herself she was.

With one ex cadet too stunned to even move and the other too afraid to stop and inevitably open her eyes, the kiss lasted longer than what was even remotely necessary. Finally, though, the lightweight of the duo relented, gently pushing the thicker female back a step or two and unwillingly releasing her hair. She stood there with her head hanging and her eyes closed for a little while, but then she looked up, seeing the other young woman staring at her in complete shock. "... You needed to stop talking." she murmured, wrapping her arms around herself and suddenly taking more of an interest in her own shoes than anything surrounding her.

Despite being acutely aware of what she just heard and feeling like every last one of her senses had been heightened all at once, MacArthur found herself unable to do anything but blink. Her stare remained fixated on her much more straight laced friend, putting two and two together much more slowly than usual this time. Her own cheeks flushed a bright shade of red, but she didn't pay it any mind for now. Instead, she internally celebrated as her voice decided to return, letting her at least start to speak her mind again. "So...is this why you..."

"I'm having a hard time even accepting that I just did that, MacArthur. How the hell am I supposed to know?" Sanders muttered, trying to hide the deep maroon color rising onto her cheeks. She almost wished she had her shoulder length hair back or at least a long enough wig. That would have made this so much easier.

MacArthur felt her eyes narrow as she listened to those words. "Hasn't this morning taught you not to hide things from me?" she snarled.

Sanders sighed deeply, but looked past her friend for a second to see a scrawny, salt and pepper haired man with glasses walking in their direction. "That's the bus driver. I'll see you around." she lied again, slipping away from her bigger friend so she could scurry back onto the bus.

MacArthur watched in disbelief as her friend turned her back on her, but when she looked over her shoulder at the driver, her wide eyes narrowed into a blazing glare. Sanders wanted a bus ride? She was damn sure going to get one.

The more level-headed of the two, after returning to the bus, spent the next few minutes or so calming the panicked passengers that had somehow got it in their heads that MacArthur was a bloodthirsty murderer. Sanders' efforts to put all of their minds at ease were much more effective than she'd expected them to be. Even though some of the people were still a little anxious, everyone did start to trickle back into their seats in what she considered to be good time. That made the ex cadet feel pretty good about herself. She'd always had a gift for dealing with panicked crowds...or rowdy roommates.

The sound of a new set of footsteps making their way onto the train would have made Sanders sit down as well, but...something didn't seem right. Even without turning around, she could tell those heavy footfalls couldn't possibly belong to the toothpick of a man she'd just seen outside.

Then a high pitched whistle sounded.

"Official police business! All civilians, clear out of this vehicle NOW!"

" _I should have known..."_

As expected, all of Sanders' work towards calming the passengers down immediately went up in smoke. She subconsciously stepped in front of a cluster of empty seats, just waiting as everyone rushed out of the bus in a panic.

"That's right, move your asses, people! This is an emergency! We don't have all day!"

Sanders waited until the last few people had passed her to look over her shoulder. Her friend and former race partner seemed very much in her element as she ordered the civilians off of the bus, holding up a police badge. Whether it was the one issued to her that she never returned or a stolen one she grabbed before leaving the academy today was anyone's guess, but the "good cop" honestly wouldn't be surprised either way.

When the bus was cleared, Sanders finally made her move. She stormed over to the driver's seat of the bus, where her larger friend was settling herself in, getting ready to drive off. "What the hell is the matter with yo-"

Before the sentence could really be finished, MacArthur grabbed onto an arm much thinner than her's and pulled, resulting in her freckle-faced friend landing right in her lap. "We need to talk. Now." she insisted, somehow strapping the both of them in with the seatbelt.

With everything around her going so fast, Sanders could hardly react to anything being thrown at her. She was at least able to register that she was now sitting in her former roommate's lap and have her whole face flush a deep crimson as a result. "I-I...w-why are we-"

"Hold onto me! This is gonna get rocky."

That was the only warning given before MacArthur started the bus with the stolen keys and slammed her foot on the accelerator. Even from inside the screeching of the tires could be heard as she turned to get them out of the bus station.

Even being used to this level of crazy driving from the feisty brunette wasn't enough to prepare the already panicked Sanders for this. Subconsciously, she did as she was told and held onto MacArthur, probably much more tightly than necessary, and turned so she could bury her face in the woman's hair. She was surprised by the fact that she was soothed and not nauseated by the sweaty smell that came from her hair this time, but she also wasn't going to complain about it. At least in kept her from screaming in her friend's ear.

In an effort to ignore that Sanders' chest was mere inches from her face in the position they were in now, MacArthur stopped using both hands to drive the bus and rested her now free hand on her friend's right leg. She let her hand slowly rub up and down Sanders' thigh without thinking much of it, mostly hoping it would calm her down. She had no clue where they were going yet. She just knew it was going to be a long ride.

" _... Something wrong?"_

 _Dumb question, probably. Sanders was sure her soon to be ex-roommate wouldn't have grabbed onto her hands and stared into her eyes so sternly if she didn't at least think something was wrong._

 _MacArthur's grip on the small yet powerful hands in her own tightened slightly. "You tell me."_

" _I...I don't-"_

" _Is something wrong between you and Brody? Did he do something to you?"_

" _What? No, I'm-"_

" _Did you find something out about him and not tell me?"_

" _MacArthur, stop!"_

" _Not until you tell me what's wrong!"_

" _NOTHING!"_

 _Sanders didn't even realize she'd raised her voice until she saw the utter shock on her friend's face. Not that she blamed her for that. Even after the incident resulting in her arm getting broken, the short haired cadet had gone to great lengths to be as polite to her race partner as possible. She'd never yelled at her before, at least not this loudly._

 _The slender cadet sighed and stared back at the large shirt in her hands, deciding to undo the folds she'd done and just start over again. It had only been a few minutes since the more hostile member of the duo had decided she was going to ask Brody if she could hide at his place for a while, and Sanders had immediately started folding and separating her friend's clothes for her. It was the only thing keeping her from having a nervous breakdown. "If you want to take off with Brody, be my guest. There's nothing wrong with it. I won't stop you."_

 _MacArthur's wide, dark eyes narrowed at those words. "Even when you manage to keep a straight face, I know when you're lying through your teeth."_

" _Let me finish folding these clothes."_

" _This isn't the first time you've acted funny about me mentioning Brody, you know? I've noticed it more and more since we came back home."_

 _Sanders looked up with her own eyes narrowing once again, doing everything in her power to suppress the angry growl she felt in her throat. "If you're going to distract me, at least help me sort through your stuff."_

 _MacArthur crossed her arms over her chest, drumming the fingers of her right hand against her left forearm. "Brody's a good guy, Sanders. Nicer than most people I go for. Honestly, I don't get you right now."_

 _Finally, Sanders just dropped the shirt in her hands. She couldn't even focus on folding anymore. "Honestly, MacArthur? Neither do I."_

" _That's what I- ... Wait, what?"_

 _Sanders stood up from her kneeling position and walked towards the door to their room. "I'll be back later."_

 _MacArthur's face reddened and contorted into a venomous scowl. "And where the hell do you think you're going?!"_

" _Bathroom." Sanders slammed the door behind her, not wanting to give the remaining occupant a chance to say another word to her._

 _As she was walking away from their room, the short haired cadet could easily hear a loud scream of frustration and something crumbling away behind the door. "That dent of her's must have finally given out." she muttered in annoyance, knowing she was going to want to find a way to cover up the new hole in their wall when she got back._

Eventually, MacArthur got an idea of where she wanted to go, stopping in a wooded area well outside of town. To her knowledge, she was the only person to know about this place. If she was right, they would be safe here for a while.

The larger brunette spent some time trying to remember exactly where she was headed, but she was snapped out of her thoughts when she felt something resting on her shoulder. A smile crept onto her face before she put an arm around the small yet toned shoulders of her good friend. "Tired?"

"Nervous." Sanders didn't think much as she wrapped her own arm around her friend's shoulders as well, but she was still a little worried. As much as she honestly liked the outdoors, she had no idea where they were, so she couldn't help feeling kind of anxious. "... You'd seriously better know where we're going."

MacArthur stared at the ground beneath their feet, her right hand gently poking, tugging and twirling some of the cloth of her friend's t-shirt, sticking to the section on the other girl's right hip. "... That was a bold move of you back there, Sanders."

"What are you-... Oh...right..." A raging blush started spreading across Sanders' freckled cheeks like wildfire, but she did her best to ignore it. "I-It's really not that big a deal if you don't-"

"I hate it when people do that."

"... Do what?"

"Pretend it's not a big deal if the person they like doesn't like them back."

"Oh...well..." It was Sanders' turn to stare at the forest floor this time. "...Isn't it more important that we're still able to be friends if you're not interested?"

That made MacArthur turn to look at the other girl and raise an eyebrow at her. "Why are you assuming I'm not?"

"Huh?" Sanders felt her face getting even hotter, but she groaned and shook her now incredibly annoying thoughts out of her head. "Ok, now you're just teasing me. Knock it off."

MacArthur would have corrected her friend, but looking ahead of them, she smiled as she realized they'd been heading in the right direction the whole time. "... You really like hanging out at that lake house with your dad so much?"

As caught off guard by the topic change as she was, Sanders still shrugged and answered anyway. "Well...yeah... It holds a lot of good memories for me and my family, but I just generally like lakes, I guess. I remember always liking water as a kid."

Hearing that made the smile on MacArthur's face grow slightly. "Well, you're gonna love what's ahead of us, then."

"What are you..." Sanders didn't get to finish her sentence. In fact, upon seeing what actually was in front of them, the lost all ability to speak. Her mouth just gaped open as she stared on at the small natural wonder she was just exposed to.

MacArthur chuckled. "I thought you'd like this." She stepped onto a worn wooden bridge that stretched across a massive lake, cutting right through the center of the glistening body of water. Small trees, moss, lily pads and other various plants grew all over the half of the lake they were closest to, but on the other half, especially on the left hand side, it was mostly clear of plants and, instead, held a small waterfall that was rushing to meet with azure depths down below. Taking all of this in for herself made MacArthur smile wide before turning around and offering a hand to who was now her dearest friend in the world. "Come on. I'm sure you want a closer look at the waterfall."

Any possible concerns Sanders could have had about the safety of the bridge and whether or not this was trespassing completely went out the window, and she happily took MacArthur's hand, absolutely beaming at everything this moment was offering to her. "This...this is amazing! How did I never know about this place?"

"As far as I know, I'm the only one who does." MacArthur said, keeping a gentle grip on the soft hand in her own and running her thumb over the small yet slightly calloused knuckles. "That might not be the case forever since this looks like the perfect spot for a party. Either way, for now, we have it to ourselves."

Overjoyed, Sanders rested her head on her friend's broad shoulder once again, slightly tightening her grip on her hand. "... How do you do it, Escobar? Seriously?"

Another chuckle escapes Valentina before she shrugs, careful not to move the other ex cadet's head too much. "I basically make it all up as I go along. It's been working so far."

That even got Sanders to laugh a bit. "Yeah...I can vouch for that. You're doing something right, anyway."

MacArthur just nodded before looking at the bridge beneath their feet. She continued running her thumb over the top of her friend's hand. "... I feel really dumb right now."

A look of shock leaped onto Sanders' face before she turned to see the guilt-ridden look in the other former cadet's eyes. "What? Why? You've got nothi-"

"I should have seen it for myself...before you had to do or say anything... What other reason would suddenly have such an issue with Brody?"

Understanding the hot tempered brunette's train of thought now, Sanders bit her lip and cast her eyes on the wooden bridge as well. "... There's nothing wrong with him. He's a good guy, like you said."

"That doesn't matter." MacArthur kicked a fallen branch out of her way as she said that, partly wishing she could do the same to herself. "... I'm usually really good at spotting this kind of thing. And you're closer to me than anyone. How could I not notice at least once?"

"You've had more important things on your mind... My stupid jealousy shouldn't take precedence over everything else right now."

"And why the hell not? How many times have you dropped everything just to help me?"

Sanders just sighed. She didn't have an argument for that one.

MacArthur looked up again, chuckling softly to herself before stopping their walk across the bridge. "... Do you like it?"

Before she could ask what her friend was talking about, Sanders looked up and saw the waterfall they'd been looking at from a distance mere moments ago. Now, up close, she smiled at the opportunity to see the mass of liquid pearls cascade downwards, creating a light mist as they met with a glistening pool of pure sapphire. Awestruck by the magnificence before her, the freckled ex cadet hugged her larger friend as tightly as possible, nestling her head in the crook of the brunette's neck. "... I love it."

As her face turned a deep red, MacArthur wrapped her arms around the slender girl's waist and held her a little tighter, eyes closing for a while as she rested her chin on top of the other female's head. In comfortable silence, they stayed there together and drunk in the symphony that Mother Nature herself was performing just for them, aided by the cascading waterfall, gentle mid-morning breeze, rustling summer leaves and occasional croak of a small frog. What a relief it was for the ex cadets to enjoy a moment of peace like this after all of the insanity of these past few days.

After what she honestly didn't think was enough time, MacArthur gently took her arms from around the small waist of the woman before her, looking down into her eyes and placing her hands on the girl's hips. She'd been especially gentle with her since they arrived here, handling her friend as if she was made of glass. "So...what do you want us to do from here?"

The affectionate smile Sanders had on her face was suddenly replaced with another wide eyed stare. "... What do I want _us_ to do?"

"Yep. I'm not leaving your side again. I've already decided that." MacArthur answered, gently tilting her friend's chin as she decided she wanted a better look at her face. "But I want you to make the choice on where we head off to since you've been dealing with my nonsense all day."

Sanders couldn't help but smirk. "I've been dealing with your nonsense for the past six months."

"You know what I meant." MacArthur laughed before lightly shoving the smaller young woman by her shoulder.

After laughing softly herself, Sanders' expression dropped and she tried to think of what exactly she would say next. "Well...part of me wants to tell you to try and find Brody... I still remember how excited you got when-"

"Shh..." MacArthur placed a single finger over the chocolate colored lips her good friend had, noting how they were a slightly darker shade than the rest of her face. "Forget Brody. I'll deal with that when I have to, but he's a thing of the past right now." She took both hands of her precious friend and partner into her own, her grin slightly growing as she saw how her cheeks had darkened. "Pretend we're back in the dorm room. Before Brody even came up...what would you have said to me?"

The more timid side of Sanders wanted her to stare at the bridge below her again, but she decided not to. Something in MacArthur's eyes was making her feel like it was...safer now to do and say what she truly wanted to. She didn't want to look away and start questioning herself again. "... Well...I was _going_ to offer to get another bus ticket to my dad's lake house and bring you with me... It would have been empty then, but I've already asked my dad to meet me there now..."

Valentina smirked and raised an eyebrow. "What? Too ashamed of your girlfriend all of a sudden to introduce me to the family?"

Sanders' eyes widened to probably the biggest they'd been all day, and if she wasn't blushing like a madwoman earlier, she certainly was doing that now. "I-I...w-we're... Did you just say-"

"You heard me, you adowable wittle goofball." MacArthur purposely cooed at the chocolate skinned girl like she was talking to a small child. She was going to have to get used to genuinely complimenting her without sounding condescending. "But...if you're really that embarrassed of me that you don't want to introduce me to your dad-"

"N-No, no, of course not!" Sanders wildly shook her head before taking the pale yet plump hands of her precious friend in her own. "I'd never be ashamed of you, MacArthur. Ever! I have literally no reason to! You're the best race partner a girl could ask for, the funnest if not craziest roommate I've ever had in my life, plus you're so pretty and funny and confident and smart and-"

"Easy, Sanders, easy!" MacArthur couldn't help laughing as she grabbed the smaller girl by her shoulders and tried to calm her down. "I was just messing with you. I know you wouldn't suggest something like that on purpose."

Sanders finally let her head hang and her eyes dart to the floor, feeling her entire face and even her ears start to catch fire this time. "... Oh."

Still chuckling softly, MacArthur tilted her now girlfriend's chin so they were looking into each other's eyes. "The compliments were all very much appreciated, though. Not that I didn't know all of that already." she said with a slight shrug of her shoulders.

With a roll of her eyes, Sanders pushed the hand away from her face and chuckled. "Are we going to my dad's or not?"

MacArthur grinned and suddenly picked up her new girlfriend in her arms, only to chuckle softly when she heard the lightweight shriek. "You're gonna have to give me directions."

A warm smile crossed Sanders' face before she gently draped her arms around her crush turned girlfriend's neck. "Way ahead of you. I can pull it up on my phone, but if we need it, I have physical map in one of my bags that we can-"

"Are you able to point me in the right direction? Yes or no?"

"... Yes, MacArthur."

"Good. That's all you had to say."

Sanders rolled her eyes and shook her head, but still maintained a small smile. "What am I gonna do with you?"

Slowly, a devious smirk worked it's way onto MacArthur's face while she thought of some ways to answer that question. "... I could tell you my ideas, but I know you'll hate all of them."

"Let me guess. They're all ridiculously perverted."

"Oh, extremely."

"Thought so."

Another chuckle slipped past MacArthur's lips before she kissed the forehead of the girl in her arms. "Don't worry. I won't say anything. Wouldn't want my little Prude to faint."

Any trace of a smile vanished from Sanders' face as she heard the nickname. "I told you not to call me that."

"What? Your name is Prudence and you _are_ a complete prude most of the time."

"Ok, that's it. Put me down." Sanders didn't wait for any sort of permission before pushing herself out of the bigger brunette's arms.

"Aww, don't be like that. Come here." MacArthur quickly wrapped her arms around the small waist of the retreated girl, not wanting her to get away that easily. "You know how much I love your name, right? ... It's beautiful, and it's perfect for you." she murmured, giving a light kiss on one of her freckled cheeks.

One eye roll later, Sanders was looking over her shoulder into the lovely dark eyes she'd fallen in love with. "... Call me Prude one more time, and you don't get to drive. Understand?"

MacArthur pouted a little and used her big, sparkly, puppy eyes, but one stern look from Sanders made her remember she was immune to that look already and sigh heavily. "Fine, fine..."

"Thank you." Sanders said with a smile, strutting across the rest of the bridge and onto the grass. She decided she could let herself be excited over her small victory. For once, she had gotten her way with MacArthur without having to severely injure herself. Suffice to say it was a relief to know this was actually possible.

Watching her now girlfriend take long, confident strides towards where they'd left the bus made MacArthur's own sense of pride swell a little bit before she followed after her. Prudence Sanders always had a little bit of a self-esteem issue despite how much she tried to hide it. Seeing nothing but pure confidence exuding from her for once...it made the brunette so incredibly happy.

Almost as happy as she was when teasing her.

"Seriously, though, you don't think Prude's a cute nickname?"

"This isn't up for discussion, Escobar."

"I'm telling you, it's really cute! And you can't tell me it's not a perfect fit. It totally is!"

"Shut your goddamn mouth, Valentina!"

"Heh heh... You're adorable when you're angry."


	6. Broken Glasses

Marilyn Griffith Digital Log: 1-12-16; 1:27 AM

She knows better. I'm certain she does.

So...why?

Of all the times, why did she have to do this today?!

Ellody is the one who invited me over this evening. The plan was to spend the night as we generally always did-studying and working towards a breakthrough on any of our more recent experiments in her basement laboratory. I admit, I'm still envious of the scientific marvel her parents were willing to just hand over to her. Sometimes, I have to beg my aunt for months at a time before she'll seriously consider replacing my glasses.

Regardless, the first hour or so of our research had gone over quite well. In fact, I'd stumbled upon an article that might have had just the chemical compound we were looking for. None of the previous one's we'd tried have worked thus far, but if this was the one we needed, we would be one step closer to creating a weightless, invisible space suit that would produce oxygen on it's own.

Of course, we hadn't gotten far enough to produce the full suit yet. But if this phase succeeded, we'd at least have the oxygen producing helmet, which was the most significant piece of the puzzle anyway.

So, like I said, that part of our evening had gone by flawlessly.

It's when we got to actually handling the chemicals that things got...difficult.

Ellody had put herself in charge of combining the chemicals this time around, so I was in charge of recording as much of our data as possible. Fine by me. The more hands-on portions of these experiments were always the most thrilling, but I'd had a long day already watching my little cousin, and I was worried I'd fall asleep if I got myself too worked up. It still confuses me that Ellody and I are the only girls we know who get this excited about these things.

Not long into our session, though, did Ellody's phone start vibrating on our work table. Honestly, the first time didn't surprise me. I had long since accepted the fact that my dear friend and go-to science partner was...let's say more inclined to attract attention than myself. I admit I was a little irritated that it happened so soon, but I kept my eyes on my notes and ignored it. After being seen on reality television for the first time, I should have expected at least one of us would get interrupted during our lab sessions much more frequently than before.

What threw me off, though, was the next few times it happened.

Either Ellody had forgotten our agreement to only keep our phones close after the first notification if we knew there was an emergency of some kind, or there was an emergency within her family that she had decided not to tell me about.

Either way, I wasn't pleased.

I still ignored it, though, and continued my writing, noticing I was scribbling much faster than usual and inevitably deciding to ignore that as well.

The only thing keeping me from losing my temper was the hope that she was keeping her promise. Clearly, this conversation had to be something incredibly important.

And then, I heard Ellody giggle.

I stopped writing altogether and snapped my pencil in half with one hand. No dire family emergency would cause her to giggle like that.

The sound my pencil breaking seemed to snap Ellody out of her texting stupor, but I didn't care. I slammed my notebook shut and reached across the table for the offending mobile device taking up valuable space on our work table. I didn't know whether I wanted to hide it away so my lab partner couldn't get to it, see just who was stealing her focus away from me or smash the damned thing until it was in pieces on the white tiled floor. It really didn't matter. I just wanted it away from Ellody.

The moment I scooped up the smart device, however, the tanned beauty reacted in kind. Her slightly smaller hands latched onto my own, and she groaned loudly as she attempted to pry her phone out of my grasp.

With both of our low rates of physical strength nearly evenly matched, an inevitable tug-of-war waged between us for a few seconds as we each tried to seize the phone for ourselves. She was as worthy a physical adversary as intellectual, but I refused to give in until it was mine.

That is, until I heard the distinct sound of shattering glass against our newly sterilized floor.

Looking on Ellody's side of the work table, we could both see the once emerald toned substance that she had been mixing disperse all across the ground after the beaker it had been contained in had broken to pieces.

Once on the ground and exposed to the oxygen around us, the liquid quickly started bubbling and shifting to lighter shades of green until it became stark white.

Mortified, Ellody and I stared into one another's eyes. This would only end so well.

Thankfully, we escaped the lab and shut the door behind us just before the explosion sounded. The trembling against our backs and beneath our feet was enough to make us fall to the ground, but I could already tell that it wouldn't force the door open. When the quaking finally settled down, both Ellody and myself sighed in relief. There were probably some small fires within the lab that needed to be dealt with, but at least we hadn't destroyed the entire house.

Ellody left immediately in search of a fire extinguisher, and I was prepared to follow her when I felt something gently hit my leg from inside my lab coat pocket. A smirk danced across my lips. I still had Ellody's phone.

Looking to my left to see that my friend was searching the kitchen and ignoring me entirely, I decided this was my chance. Without hesitation, I slipped the device out of my pocket and unlocked it with ease. Being my best...well, really my only friend, I knew Ellody well enough to be able to predict her passcodes with hardly any effort whatsoever.

Moments later, I'd scrolled through the seven text messages my lab partner had gotten over the last fifteen minutes or so, finding all of them under the same name.

August Pierce. An unfamiliar but highly masculine name if I'd ever seen one.

A boy...

It was a boy?

Of all of the things, Ellody let herself get distracted from our work and nearly got us killed over a STUPID BOY?!

I knew I shouldn't have been letting myself get so worked up over this, but in the end, I didn't care. Ellody had no business letting anything or anyone divert her focus from our valuable work. If this was about an emergency or something equally as important, I would have been fine, but the conversation between her and this August was of a much more...suggestive nature than what would be appropriate for such a situation.

So, in conclusion, Ellody had wasted my time.

And I certainly couldn't have that.

Without a second thought, my piercing gaze dug into the back of my so-called lab partner's skull, and before I could think to stop myself, I rose to my feet and threw the phone as hard as I could.

Bullseye.

After wincing in pain, Ellody turned around to see what had happened, only for her features to betray her sudden state of shock as she put the pieces together in her mind.

Or maybe her surprise was more for the cold, emotionless stare I'd at least been trying to send her way. It was hard to tell.

One thing was certain, though. I officially had no further business in this house.

Ellody almost opened her mouth, probably to ask what was happening or explain what was going on, but I didn't want to hear it. I simply turned my back on her and stormed out of her home through the front door.

After slamming the door behind me, I simply walked down the street towards the nearest bus stop with my arms crossed over my chest.

Soon enough, I was wondering if I'd over reacted. I let my arms drop and started moving faster.

Then, when the reality of what I'd just done to my friend started to sink in, I started running as fast as my legs would carry me.

Finally, at the bench where I usually waited for the bus anyway, I collapsed onto my knees and sobbed into my hands.

What on earth had I just done?

Marilyn Griffith Digital Log: 1-14-16; 4:36 PM

Taking a break from science projects as a whole for the day yesterday was torturous, but at the very least, it calmed me down enough to think things through.

And, of course, by think things through, I meant do as much research on Mr. August Pierce as humanly possible. I wanted to find something- _anything_ relating to this man that might explain away Ellody's odd behavior.

Thankfully for her, by the time she sent me a text in an attempt to apologize, I knew everything I needed to know.

As it turned out, August Pierce was the son of a rather wealthy family that was recently found to have rather close ties to NASA. As much as this didn't make me any happier about my lab partner ignoring our deal to keep our focus on our work when in the lab, I could at least conclude why she was making him such a priority all of a sudden.

Boys were never of importance to Ellody or myself before, but now that we'd be recognized from our participation in the race, it's only natural that people, male and female, would start taking more of an interest in us than they once did. I just couldn't help thinking it was oddly...convenient that such an influential young man would be the first one to divert Ellody's attention like this.

Suspicions aside, I forgave my friend and apologized for my own actions as well, but I made sure it was abundantly clear that even the likes of August Pierce wouldn't be allowed to infringe on our research time like that again. I only decided to have another go at a work day today because she convinced me that she understood.

How oh how could I have been so wrong?

I expected this day to go by much more easily than last time with a slightly more simplistic idea to focus on-non-melting soft serve ice cream. Nothing terribly beneficial to the rest of society in and of itself, but I'd hoped choosing something not directly related to our space studies would make things a little more fun for Ellody.

And, more importantly, I figured keeping away from the subject of space would keep both of us from thinking of August Pierce.

Like last time, the research portion of our day went by seamlessly. By the time I was ready to move on to the work table, however, Ellody checked her watch, which I'd helped her connect to the house phone months prior to our time in the race. She left me to get started without her, but I simply continued working without a second thought. As wary as I was trying to be, I was sure I could trust Ellody. After convincing myself she was speaking to her parents, I quickly continued working and assumed she would return in a few minutes.

A few minutes, however, quickly turned to ten minutes.

Then fifteen minutes.

Then thirty.

By the forty-five minute mark, I had gotten frustrated and set everything down. I could only attempt to delude myself for so long, and this broke any and all suspension of disbelief.

Ellody's parents were doctors for goodness sake. There was no way two such hardworking individuals would be able to spend nearly an hour of their work days chatting up their daughter when they already did so much of that at home.

Something clearly wasn't right here, and the scientist in me needed to know what that was.

I stepped out of the laboratory as quietly as possible, sticking a shoe in the metallic, safe like door that usually closed instantaneously. I knew the pass code to get back in should the door close on me, but there was always the chance that I wouldn't have time to do so.

I was barely a few feet away from the lab doors before I heard what must have been Ellody's voice. It was in the general direction of the kitchen, but too muffled for me to make out what was being said. She must have been in the backyard, on the other side of that sliding glass door.

I slipped into the kitchen and got as close as I could without the risk of being spotted. Thankfully, in my hiding spot under the breakfast nook table, I could see everything I needed to.

On the porch swing adorned with an overabundance of frilly yet comfortable looking cushions sat my lab partner, her cell phone held between her ear and her shoulder as she stared into the backyard oasis that was her immaculately maintained garden and the pool just behind it. Was it even her house phone that had been called in the first place?

Worse than that, though, were her body language and facial expressions. The occasional bat of her eyes, the slight flush of her cheeks, the non stop twirling of her hair on her finger.

And that smile... That. God. Damned. Smile.

No way was she speaking to anyone but August Pierce.

I growled under my breath and slipped out from under the table as quickly as I could. This would **not** go unpunished.

I returned to the lab and retrieved my shoe before slipping back into the door, knowing exactly what I wanted to do. The beaker I'd left behind was already filled with a gas that was freezing it's container from the inside out without the aid of a freezer beforehand. Whether the chemical structure would help ice cream stay in tact in immense heat was irrelevant to me now. What was important was knowing the effect it would have once I made some...adjustments to the compound.

A quick drop of the nearest acidic liquid in front of me and some violent shaking once the beaker was sealed caused everything inside to turn to liquid and even attempt to overflow from it's glass prison. Not that I would have allowed such an escape. I didn't want to waste a single drop.

Once my concoction was secure, I stormed out of the lab, not even bothering to try and keep it open this time. There was no need. I wouldn't be here much longer.

Marching across the kitchen, I could see through the glass door that Ellody was now standing up. Perfect.

I tore open the door, and before she could let out a word, I took the hand that was now holding her phone and pressed the offending device against her lips. Then, after tearing the cork out of the beaker's opening with my teeth, I poured some of the liquid, which had stopped bubbling shortly after the mixing was over, onto Ellody's hand, encasing it and her phone in solid ice. Now, she'd never have to stop talking to her precious August again.

And, of course, why would I stop there?

In a panic, the shorter girl tried to rush past me to get back to the lab, but I wouldn't have that. Instead, I blocked her way until I could seal the beaker again. Afterwards, I pushed her back towards the garden, only to toss the beaker at her feet before she could get too far.

As instantaneously as before, the liquid hardened into ice crystals around her feet. I almost wanted to laugh. If not for her futile attempts to escape, she would have been perfectly at home among the statues decorating the lush oasis of her family's backyard.

A buzz in my pocket alerted me to a message from my aunt. She was asking...well, really ordering me to leave my "friend's" home as soon as possible to bring Abigail, my younger cousin, home from middle school. Good. An alabi.

I let Ellody watch helplessly as I sweeped up the glass from her beaker with latex gloves on, leaving nothing, to my knowledge, that could possibly tie me to this "crime" scene. Afterwords, I looked straight into her tearful eyes and waved goodbye with a warm smile on my face before leaving the house, dumping the broken glass into the dumpster behind a cafe on the way to catch my bus.

Should I have done any of this? Probably not.

Do I regret it? Hardly.

One might say two wrongs don't make a right.

Sir or madam, I hate to be the one to tell you that I wholeheartedly disagree.

Marilyn Griffith Digital Log: 1-18-16; 6:23 PM

While unrelated to my own scientific advances, this did take place while I was assisting Abigail in searching for books for her own science projects. Not that I had a choice in the matter. Her mother, my aunt, insisted that she only made any progress on her project when I was mentioned and figured sending me to help her study and pick out her books would be beneficial to her.

Fine by me. I had my own business at the library anyway.

While my four days of not speaking to Ellody had been oddly peaceful, I knew I wouldn't be able to resist her constant attempts to reach me for very long. While I'd expected an apology for her deceptions and the general waste of our time, when I finally allowed her to make her case, she decided the best way to go about this was to do it in person. It was shortly after deciding that keeping me away from the volatile chemicals in her home for a while would be the best for everyone that I got the demand to bring my cousin to the library. Apparently, Ellody thought this arrangement was flawless.

The idea was for me to get my cousin squared away with her own studies as soon as I picked her up from school and brought her to the library. Once she was focused and I knew she wouldn't be paying attention to me for some time, I would separate from her and talk out my issues with my lab partner. I saw no reason to object. The plan itself seemed doable.

Sadly, much like many a failed science expedition, despite the sound idea, the execution made everything turn sour.

Part of me wants to blame Abigail at least a little. She refused to let me leave her side the entire time I was waiting, and even if that wasn't the case, I was worried she'd get distracted and go off to read something unrelated to her science project if I wasn't keeping a close eye on her.

I'd never blame my cousin fully, though, even if there was plausible reason to do so. That child was simply too important to me. I refused to blame my problems on her.

Furthermore, the real issue here, once again, was Ellody. I would have been fine with excusing a few minutes of tardiness since the library me and my cousin went to was in our neighborhood and, as such, significantly far from her home.

It wasn't so far, however, that I could warrant a full two and a half hours of lateness on her behalf.

Frustrated, I gathered Abigail's books and pointed out the front doors of the library. I was so grateful she took the hint and went to wait for me outside. I didn't want to risk losing my temper on her while I was checking out her books.

I mentally cursed myself as I waited, wondering how someone with my I.Q. could have possibly been so dense. Of course Ellody wasn't coming. How could I have been stupid enough to believe otherwise?

But then, I heard Abigail's laughter just outside.

I knew that laugh.

It was the same laugh that always escaped her the moment she would see Ellody.

I was completely stunned for a moment, but it wasn't long before I was incapable of holding back my smile. Ellody really did make it! I should have known I was just being paranoid. She'd never let me down over something this important.

I walked out of the library with a wide grin spread across my face. What I found when I was out the door, however, made my expression drop all over again.

Thankfully, Ellody really was there. She was with my cousin, picking her up off the ground and spinning her around like she always did upon seeing her. She was always really good with kids.

What made everything collapse around me was the stretch Cadillac and the young blonde male I could see watching the scene as he leaned against it. My extensive internet research matched his face to a name immediately. That was August Pierce. No question about it.

After setting Abigail back on her feet, Ellody finally noticed me. She waved at me with a smile, as if everything was fine, only to turn around and give August a hug. That made my eye twitch as a flood of unfamiliar thoughts crowded every crevice of my brain.

Why on Earth was Ellody riding around in a limo with August Pierce?

How could she possibly bring him here when this day was supposed to be about our reconciliation?

What had caused my dear friend to change so much that she was willing to spend any amount of time flirting with boys to begin with?

And, finally, the most confusing thought of them all.

Why was it only Ellody that was attracting the attention influential figures like the Pierce family? Was I, her teammate, not worthy of the same attention?

That thought made a dark rage suddenly well up inside me. Of course the answer was no. When had I ever attracted the same attention as Ellody?

I hadn't even noticed until that point that August had gotten back into the limousine and taken off, leaving Ellody in front of the library with me and my cousin. There was no conceivable way I could have noticed that with the emotional state I was in.

A simple glance in the direction of Abigail was enough to let the younger redhead know that she needed to leave. She obliged immediately, taking her library books from my hands and walking in the direction of our home. I'll forever be grateful for the fact that I'm the one person my younger cousin will listen to roughly 100% of the time.

Ellody watched in confusion as the youngest member of our trio started to leave. Then, she looked up at me. The concern in her eyes made it blatantly obvious to me that she wanted to know what was going on.

Not that I had any desire to give such information to the likes of her.

Hell, at this point, I wasn't even certain if she deserved to still be alive.

Before my supposed "friend" was even able to part her lips to say anything, I acted. It didn't register until it was too late that I'd just struck the shorter girl across the face with the back of my left hand, but I kept a steely expression on my own face regardless. What point was there in doing anything otherwise? I couldn't take this back now even if I wanted to.

Which, to clarify, I didn't.

I could more clearly see her eyes widen after her glasses fell and shattered against the concrete, but my ungodly fury towards her didn't subside. Not that I wanted or even expected it to. A traitorous wench the likes of her deserved no such mercy.

I turned my back on her immediately after that, hoping this would be the last time I'd ever have to see her again. If my former friend was speaking to me as I left, I honestly couldn't hear her, nor did I have any desire to do so. Nothing we could say to each other was going to reverse the damage she'd done.

Marilyn Griffith Digital Log: 1-20-16; 11:27 AM

Following the library incident, I'd attempted to avoid human contact as much as I possibly could. Of course, the one person to coax me out of my science cave (my bedroom) was my younger cousin. She still needed help with her science project and wouldn't make any progress on it without me. I'm just grateful that she waited until she knew her mother was gone. That awful woman was the very last person I needed to see.

Once I was downstairs in our rundown excuse for a dining room, Abigail finally filled me in on the details of her science project.

Or maybe she'd told me already. I couldn't be bothered to remember.

Either way, I now knew she was going to be growing salt crystals. That made some bittersweet memories resurface all of a sudden. This was one of the first science projects Ellody and I had taken on together. I had to physically shake my head when I thought of that. My cousin needed me. Now wasn't the time to get emotional about my traitorous ex lab partner.

Abigail started setting up the elements she already had, and while she did so, I noticed she'd forgotten the ammonia. She was so excited to get started, though, that I just couldn't bear to break her concentration, so I decided to see if I could find where it was myself. It wouldn't be safe allowing a child to handle a gallon of ammonia by herself anyway.

I rolled my eyes when I found the bottle stashed among my aunt's various bottles of alcohol under the kitchen sink. That woman's no Einstein and never would be, but even she should know that isn't the best idea.

Finding the ammonia and several bottles of wine together, however, did give me a dastardly idea. I couldn't resist the urge to allow my face to contort into what must have been the most wicked smirk imaginable as I thought of Ellody. Oh, the delicious irony behind it all... In that moment, I had to wonder if I really was too smart for my own good.

This plan will have to wait until Abigail is no longer in need of my attention, of course, but now that I've left the kitchen to continue assisting her with the experiment, I can say I'm certainly in a much better mood than I was going in.

Marilyn Griffith Digital Log: 1-21-16; 1:46 AM

The hydrogen cyanide was relatively simple to obtain after Abigail was out of my hair. It was even easier to conceal the syringe by hiding it up my sleeve just before returning to Ellody's home. I wasn't sure if Ellody just hadn't mentioned our...altercations over the past few days to her parents yet or if the two doctors simply had something planned for me. Either way, the mere sight of my face was enough for Ellody's mother to smile and allow me inside the house without a second thought.

Innocent fool. I almost felt bad knowing this woman was so close to losing her only daughter.

Almost.

As I'd hoped, Ellody was in the lab, fast asleep at the work table in the middle of the room. No way was this really going to be so easy...

I was going to simply get it over with before I lost my nerve, but the offending noise I recognized as Ellody's phone buzzing took me out of the moment. Had she seriously learned nothing over these past few days?

I rolled my eyes and scooped up the phone from on top of the table. Just before I can turn it off, though, something flashes across the screen that stops me dead in my tracks-a text from August, simply telling Ellody that she had no idea what she was doing.

The feeling of my brows furrowing made me sigh heavily. Even now, I'm still wondering how long it's going to take before my curiosity gets me killed.

In spite of myself, I decided to see what message incited such an outburst from the young heir. What I find leaves me stunned more so than the outburst itself.

Apparently, Ellody decided to call off whatever arrangements she'd had between herself and the Pierce legacy. There was no real explanation as to why, but I didn't need one. I knew Ellody too well. Our fight probably left her more emotionally damaged than I'd bothered to even consider, and when she gets that way, she's much more prone to making foolhardy, potentially self-sabotaging decisions just like this one.

Not that, at the moment, I had any room to talk.

I was snapped out of my thoughts when the smartphone vibrated in my hand again. And again. And again... Text after spiteful text was popping up on Ellody's phone. August really didn't handle rejections well, it seemed. Typical male behavior.

I rolled my eyes and was about to simply put the phone down when I saw the beaker directly in front of Ellody on the work table. Finally taking note of the fluid inside made me quirk an eyebrow and stare on for a bit. What kind of work could Ellody have possibly been doing with liquid nitrogen at this late hour?

Another vibration of the phone made me look down at it and snarl slightly. August apparently wasn't going to be letting this go anytime soon.

With another shake of my head, I lowered the technological annoyance in my hand ever so slowly into the liquid nitrogen, doing everything possible to not cause a spill. Afterwords, I smiled at the submerged smart device in the beaker, then patted my slumbering friend on the head before I decided to leave. With any luck, this would be the last either of us would hear from the Pierce family.

Marilyn Griffith Digital Log: 1-26-16; 5:27 PM

Implementing our new policy seems to have gone off without a hitch. Ellody and I have been more productive than ever over the past few days, and getting my cousin involved has done wonders to bring the three of us closer as well as enhance her interest in science as a whole. She may even start doing her schoolwork on her own one of these days.

The idea was relatively simple at first. After Ellody got her "accidentally" frozen smartphone replaced, we decided that she and I would simply put our phones away in a drawer as we're working. I thought that would make it too easy for her to reach her phone without my noticing, though, and putting a lock on it seemed like too much in my eyes.

That's how Abigail came into the picture.

As we were discussing what to do to keep our phones out of our reach during research sessions, my cousin showed up and offered her services. We worked it out to where she would come to the lab with me directly after her classes were over and work on her own assignments, but at the same time, she'd keep our phones under her shirt. This way, we wouldn't be able to get to them on our own, but Abigail could look at them herself and tell us if someone important was calling.

A few days have gone by since we've figured all of this out, and today seemed to be the first day we've all really seemed to be used to it. Ellody was much less reluctant to relinquish her precious phone than usual this afternoon, and there were no mishaps with Abigail accidentally leaving the house with Ellody's phone or dropping it in the sink when going to wash her hands. As smoothly as things went this afternoon, I can foresee this arrangement between the three of us working out marvellously in the long run.

Also, while some lingering tension still exists between myself and Ellody, we've surprisingly managed to forgive one another and get back on the same wavelength rather easily. We've come to a mutual understanding that Ellody hasn't been taking our work nearly as seriously as she used to and my underlying envy of her, which had apparently been lying dormant within me for some odd years now, needed to be resolved as soon as possible. In an effort to resolve this issue, she's taken the liberty of asking her parents to find a therapist for both of us, who we should begin seeing in the next few days. As much as I wish I could tell her I don't need that kind of assistance, the memory of my attempted homicide reminds me that this isn't the case.

So, yes, this isn't as much a science log today as it is a personal reflection piece. Actually, that's been the case for roughly two weeks and four hours now. Regardless, it's good to be able to look back at the first bits of drama not associated with my aunt and say that I survived.

That being said, if this is even a fraction of what being a normal teenager is like, then the idea that someone could think our way of life is the more stressful between the two is a perplexity I don't think even Ellody and I will be able to solve.


	7. Queen of Hearts

"What in the Sam Hill do ya think yer doin' here?!"

Honestly, hadn't this night already been enough of a disaster as it was? Of all the people in this world, Sugar absolutely did not need to see Ella tonight.

And yet, there she was. Rising up from the couch in her dressing room, hands behind her back and every last drop of her ebony haired, rosy cheeked elegance apparently having been retained since they last saw each other. Somehow, her presence was even more rage inducing to the blonde than it had once been.

Despite being screamed at, Ella somehow maintained that cherubic smile of her's and even had the nerve to let out a soft giggle. "I came to support you tonight, of course. Didn't you see me in the audience?"

How could she not? The princess wannabe had taken it upon herself to sit as close to the stage as the seating arrangements and her own politeness would allow. Sugar very clearly heard the girl apologize for sitting in a front row seat someone else was going to sit in and start moving back, only for the person in question to give up their spot to the "charming young woman" with hardly a second thought. She'd wondered in that instant if her old adversary had ever not had something handed to her on a silver platter.

Of course, instead of letting onto any of these thoughts, the blonde simply shrugged her shoulders. "Must've missed ya..." She couldn't have sounded any colder if she tried. At least she hoped so.

"Ah...I see..."

There was a blatant shift in Ella's tone of voice that actually threw Sugar off slightly. This...wasn't really like her.

The wide eyed intruder soon noticed the tilted head and scrutinizing eyes before her and started beaming once again. "Well, that's perfectly fine. No way you could have noticed tiny me in such a vast sea of people."

Sugar rolled her baby blue eyes and sighed, crossing her arms over her chest. As hardly noticeable as Ella's shift in demeanor was, she bounced back from it instantly. As would be expected. How this annoyingly perfect creature hadn't been confused for a pageant contestant was beyond the blonde's comprehension at this point. "S'pose not."

The could-be princess cleared her throat and took a tentative step in the direction of the girl standing before her. "Well, in any case, I wouldn't want to make this about me." She held out a bouquet of red and pink roses, wrapped with a sparkly pink ribbon. "This is your night, after all, sweet Sugar."

It wasn't even possible for Sugar to tell where the anger over that statement came from-the legitimate kindness behind it or the reminder of what this night should have been a celebration of. The disgruntled blonde scoffed and turned away, her arms still folded over her chest. "Shoulda been, anyway."

"Yes, of course..." Ella stared at the flowers still in her hands for a second before staring back up again, her eyes overflowing with concern. "I could tell instantly how devastated you were about your loss tonight. I'm terribly sorry, Sugar... This can't possibly be easy for you to-"

"You're damned right, it ain't easy!" Sugar snapped before digging her nails into her scalp. As much as she would have liked for the top knot her curls had been tied up in to stay in tact, now really wasn't the time to be worrying about that.

Seeing tears starting to pour from the blonde's tightly shut eyes only served to make Ella that much more concerned. She took another uncertain step forward, gently reaching out to the distressed young girl. "Sugar... There has to be something I can-"

A sudden snatch was all it took for Sugar to be pointing the massive bouquet of roses at the small girl standing in front of her. "Junior Miss Kingsland Queen of Hearts, Ella! That title's mine! It's in mah blood! I've been waitin' fer this night all mah life, an' it was stolen right out from under me! Does that sound easy ta you, Ella?! DOES IT?!"

"I...n-no, of course not, Sugar." Ella held up her hands in defense as she spoke. She'd seen her former teammate like this before. It wasn't even a few minutes ago, in fact. And frankly, she'd rather not successfully suffer in the way the actual winner of tonight's crown almost did as Sugar's hands. "Losing something so precious is never easy, Sugar. Believe me, I understand just wha-"

"Oh, ya would say somethin' like that, wouldn't ya?!"

"I... W-What do you-"

"'Aww, Sugar, it's gonna be ok~ I promise, it'll all get better~ Trust me, I understand exactly how ya feel~'" Sugar's blatantly condescending imitation was followed by a spiteful snarl as azure flames suddenly replaces the irises of her eyes. "Ya don't know a thing 'bout what I'm goin' through, ya hear me?! I don't care how much ya think ya might know! Unless ya suddenly become me, or at least stop puttin' on a show fer yourself fer more than ten seconds, there's nothin' ya can do ta know what's goin' on in my head right now, Ella! NOTHIN'!" And then, without a second thought about it, she tossed the roses on the floor, spat on them, and even started trying to grind the offending flowers into the ground with her five inch heels.

This display caused Ella to gasp and cover her mouth with both hands as she stared on in horror. Honestly, this behavior wasn't unlike Sugar. She was prone to outbursts like this. It was to be expected.

And yet, it seemed this knowledge wasn't enough to stop the little songbird's eyes from welling up with tears.

The absolute devastation was the one and only thing that got Sugar to smile. Of course, this didn't stop her from adding insult to injury by kicking the bouquet towards the trash can sitting against the wall on her left side. The flowers didn't actually manage to join the rest of the garbage inside, but they did find a spot at the foot of the trash can anyways. Close enough. "'Bout time ya wiped that smile off yer-"

A sudden squealing stopped that sentence from being completed. The sniffling Ella wiped the tears from her eyes, but with the rate at which they continued to cascade down her cheeks, her efforts seemed to be in vain. Not that ridding her face of the tears would have made her look any less destroyed than before. "...S-Seems as though he's getting restless..."

"... Who?" Sugar's brows furrowed as she tried to determine where that sound had come from. It sounded very distinctly familiar, but... No...there's no way...

Ella quickly sniffled again. "... I-If you could please wait here, Sugar..." She turned around instantly after that, wiping her eyes again as she headed for the emergency exit towards the back of the dressing room.

It was in that moment that Sugar finally started taking more notice of her surroundings. The dressing room hadn't changed much since she'd last been inside. Same vanity with a large, light up mirror; same beauty products, presents and buckets of fried chicken covering the surface; same racks of multiple dresses to choose from for each phase of the pageant she'd competed in (only to end up in second place); same couch with a chocolate fountain and various sweets next to it. What the blonde only just noticed about the couch, though, was the massive, construction paper heart and delicious smelling box separate from all the other presents she'd received. She originally darted over to the couch to see what that sweet yet greasy aroma was coming from, but she was stopped dead in her tracks when she was close enough to read what the massive card actually read in large, cursive letters:

 _To Sugar,_

 _Forever the queen of my heart._

 _Love always,_

 _Ella._

The blonde's mind was reeling as she tried to process what she'd just read. She couldn't have interpreted it wrong, right? This card... Ella couldn't possibly...

Those thoughts didn't go very far before Sugar was suddenly tackled to the ground and her face was suddenly being covered in what she first assumed was dog slobber. Looking up, she saw the brown face and wet tongue of a familiar animal, but this creature made the blonde smile more than any canine ever could. "My Crispy! What're you doin' here?!"

The only answer Sugar was met with from the pig she met back on Pahkitew Island was more licking on her face. Not that this was a problem for her. In fact, despite her bright red dress now being covered in grease, she was happy to accept it, overjoyed laughter escaping her as she gave the pig a tight hug.

"I found him at a petting zoo some time ago. He wouldn't let me leave without him, so I was allowed to bring him with me."

Sugar looked up as Ella started speaking. In spite of the attempt to make her voice sound happier, her hanging head and sagging shoulders didn't do anything to hide how she was really feeling. "I... When I found out you were competing in this pageant, I thought...I thought it would make you happy to see him... And I was sure he'd be much happier living with you, so..."

The startled blonde looked into the shiny, beady eyes of the pig in her arms before looking back at Ella. "... You're...jus' givin' 'im ta me?" she murmured, slowly rising to her feet as she continued holding Crispy close to her.

Ella let out a heavy sigh as she stared at the carpet beneath her feet, rubbing her arm as she let her eyes close. "As much as I'm wondering whether or not you deserve it...yes, I do want you to have him...if that would make you happy."

Sugar's face lit up and she squealed excitedly before hugging Crispy even tighter than before. She was about to thank the girl responsible for bringing him back to her, but she stopped for a second to think about what she'd just said. "... What do ya mean ya don't think I deserve him?!"

"I simply said I was wondering whether or not you deserve it, Sugar." Ella's voice suddenly took on a much more serious tone as she dusted herself off, shifting from her slight slouch to stand up completely straight. The stern look on her face was only intensified when she opened her eyes, which relentlessly burned and deeply chilled all at the same time. "Really, I'm uncertain of whether or not you've ever been deserving of any sort of kindness from me in the first place."

As much as Sugar wished she could be angry about this, all she could do was stare at the ebony haired girl, entirely stunned. "... Why would-" 

"I've spent so much time on you, Sugar. Every single one of those moments was spent wanting to find some common ground between us. Thinking of things that might make you smile. Trying to bring the two of us closer." As Ella spoke, she took much more decisive steps towards the blonde than she had earlier. The closer she got, the brighter the flames in her eyes burned and the more her hands slowly tightened into trembling fists at her sides. "I wondered so many times if it was worth it, and every single time, something would always tell me yes. Something always pushed me to try with you. To go as far out of my way as I could to make you see how much you already matter to me and how much fun we could have together if you would just give it a chance. I didn't know for the longest time why I was so insistent on making this work, but I went along with my instincts anyway. And the saddest thing is..." She took another step forward, trying to maintain a stone cold face even as her eyes started to once again fill with tears. "...now that I finally understand what's been driving me this whole time...you've managed to make me question whether or not you deserve to have anyone feel as affectionately towards you as I do..."

Still far too stunned to say very much, Sugar stared at the girl before her, listening intently to what she was saying. If it was anyone else, this display would have infuriated her even more so than losing her crown tonight had. But Ella... Seeing her like this...it somehow made her want to smile.

The blonde slowly set her pig down on the floor before taking a step closer to the wide eyed songstress in front of her. "Ella...I don't-"

"You're not a good person, Sugar. I'm sure you could be, but you're too arrogant, close-minded, shortsighted, jealous and outright spiteful for anyone to see it." Ella's mini tirade was cut short by a heavy sigh before she looked up again, her eyes now entirely betraying her sadness. "Which is such a shame... I've seen first hand how amazing you can really be. You're more clever than most would give you credit for; you're creative enough to think of solutions no one else would think of and driven enough to go through with things that no one else would be willing to so you can have what you want; you're funny, you're charming, and you're easily one of the most beautiful people I've ever seen..." The could-be princess took another step towards the blonde in front of her, gently grasping her shoulders as she gazed deeply into her icy blue eyes. "I just...I just can't stand seeing beauty and strength like yours clouded by so much negativity all the time, Sugar... It's devastating..."

Sugar's mind was spinning the entire time she was listening to everything being said to her. If she wasn't being held by her shoulders like this, she was certain she would have fallen and passed out by now. "...Ella..."

A sigh escaped the mentioned young woman before she slowly moved her hands, letting one simply hang at her side while cupping one of Sugar's cheeks and twirling one of her curls on her finger with the other. "... I do hope you'll someday forgive me for speaking to you like this Sugar. I'm sure you'd like me to leave now, though, so..." She quickly kissed Sugar on the cheek, then reluctantly took her hand down from the blonde's face and sighed. "... I do hope you enjoy the rest of your evening...and take good care of Crispy..."

The songbird walked towards the door that would lead her out of the dressing room, but before she was able to get too far, a powerful hand suddenly latched onto her left wrist and started pulling her close again. Another sigh escaped Ella's pale lips as she assumed she knew what was about to happen. "Sugar, we're both upset and probably very tired right now, so let's not make this anymore stressful for-"

"Shh..."

Ella's already rosy cheeks flushed a deep red as Sugar's manicured finger pressed against her lips to silence her. As much as the fair skinned songstress was trying to convince herself that this didn't mean anything, there was no ignoring the violent slamming of her heart against her chest.

When the girl before her was completely silenced, a warm smile slowly crept onto Sugar's face. "... Those are the most honest words I've ever heard you say ta me."

Surprise filled Ella's eyes first before suspicion slowly but surely took it's place. "... You didn't believe I cared about you before?"

"It's not that. It's just..." Sugar thought about her next words as carefully as she could, then shrugged her shoulders and tilted her head to the side as she looked closely at the girl in front of her. "... I never got you...how you could always wanna be around me an' never once say somethin' 'bout how I don't treat ya right... Ya never complained once. It jus'...it didn't make sense ta me..."

Ella went silent and stared at the floor again as she thought about all of this. The blonde wasn't wrong, after all. As oblivious as she'd made herself look, Ella was well aware that her "friend" mistreated her on a regular basis. She shrugged and let a small smile cross her face as she explained to the blue eyed beauty queen exactly why that was. "I've always found that the kind of anger you had towards me was derived from some kind of fear. The way you've treated me...it always hurt...but I did and still do care a lot for you...and I kept telling myself that if I kept being as kind to you as I could, if I always did my best for you despite how much you've hurt me...then maybe someday-"

"Someday, I'd learn ta trust you..."

Having the songbird's attention snap right back up to her confirmed Sugar's suspicions already, but she still tilted her head the other way and asked "Is that right?" just to be entirely certain.

Now slightly trembling, Ella stared at the ground again and grabbed onto her own wrist tightly before she nodded her head. "... I didn't imagine you'd trust someone who would say rude things to you..." The reality of the current situation suddenly made Ella close her eyes, her heart suddenly flooded with guilt. "... Not unlike the things I've said to you tonight..."

The trembling of the paler girls body got progressively more violent over the next few seconds, and just when she was sure she would fall to her knees and cry, she was lifted off her feet...and hugged?

As fast as all of this was happening, it was definitely true. Sugar had just picked up and hugged the smaller girl, about as tightly as she hugged Crispy moments before. Despite all of her efforts to concentrate, Ella's confusion and the rapidly rising heat on her face were slowly but surely making her head start to spin. "... Sugar...?"

"If ya want me ta trust ya more, ya gotta be completely honest...with me and yourself." The blonde rubbed one of her hands all up and down the upper back of the girl in her arms. "I'm not gonna trust somebody who's hidin' stuff like that from me, Ella... I know now you were always so nice ta keep me happy, but that's not what I want... I've had people like you turn around and backstab me real hard... If I'm gonna start trustin' you, ya gotta tell me the truth no matter how much ya think it's gonna hurt me...understand?"

"... Of course, Sugar." Ella whispered before slowly wrapping her arms around the girl holding her. "...and in the spirit of honesty, I need to tell you...you can't go through real life as if it's a pageant... People out there genuinely want to be nice to you and enjoy your company. Not just me. And you'll miss out on all of them if you don't let your guard down at least sometimes... I'm sure someone's told you that before, but-"

"No... Actually, no, they haven't... You're the first one who's ever said somethin' like that ta me..."

"... I am?"

"Yeah..." Sugar stared at the floor for a moment, thinking about this advice, before looking up at the girl in her arms and smiling at her. "See what happens when you're fully honest with me for once, Ella? I wouldn't've had that ta think 'bout if ya hadn't said nothin'."

A soft giggle escaped Ella as she nodded in agreement. "I suppose you're right." A thought occurred to her in that instant that made her smile widely before placing her hands on Sugar's forearms. "If I may, Sugar, I have one last thing I think I need to say before I depart."

Hearing that made a sad pout cross Sugar's face. Even if she wasn't the smartest girl out there, she could at least recognize what the word 'depart' meant when she heard it. "... You're leavin' already?"

"I wouldn't go if I had the choice, but my mother's waiting for me at our hotel. I promised her I'd be back before 1:00 AM, which means I need to leave here at midnight at the very latest."

Looking at the clock just over the dressing room door, Sugar saw that it was already 11:50 at night. "... Oh."

"But don't worry, Sugar. I promise I'll come see you at your next pageant." Ella insisted with a bright, loving smile before wriggling her way out of the blonde's embrace. "And before I take off, please allow me the honor of singing you a small song I wrote just for this glorious occasion!" Before she had any sort of permission, the songstress cleared her throat and started singing...

 _There's no vision so lovely_

 _There's no brighter star_

 _Than the curled golden locks_

 _Of the true Queen of Hearts_

 _Sugar, oh Sugar_

 _Long live her sweet reign_

 _Sugar, oh Su-_

The song was cut short by a pair of red stained lips pressing themselves against Ella's. As shocked as she was at first, the ebony haired songstress didn't have to think much before she wrapped her arms around the larger girl and return the gesture, offering more tender affection on her own side whereas forceful passion was radiating from the other.

Once her own racing heartbeat had at least slightly slowed down, Sugar pulled back and looked at Ella's smiling, deeply blushing face. It's also at this point that she noticed she was gripping at the smaller girl's short, obsidian hair, which caused her own peachy skin tone to go red as she slowly released it. "Ya do got a beautiful voice, Ella... Prob'bly not the time fer a song, though."

Ella simply giggled and pressed her forehead against Sugar's, batting her own eyes as she stared into the shimmering azure pools before her. "Kiss me like that just one more time, and I'll happily keep my song to myself for as long as you asked me to."

"Just 'till we're at the hotel you're stayin' at. I'm gonna get my auntie ta take us there soon as I'm finished."

"Deal."

Sugar smirked and picked Ella up in her arms again, causing them both to giggle before the blonde kissed her blushing princess again. Any and all tension she'd felt after this night seemed to slip away from her as she instinctively tugged on the short, raven locks with both hands. Being Kingsland's Queen of Hearts wasn't nearly as important to her now as it was before. For that moment, it was just nice to know she was royalty to somebody.


	8. Empire

" _Ok, that redneck kid... What's his face...Todd or something? Whatever. I know he's creepy, always staring at me like an idiot, but...it seems like he's worth having as a pet for a little while...at least until I can get back to Samey. I mean...he stuck his neck out for me once before. I know I can count on him, at least. He seems loyal, dependable...pretty strong...kinda cute...I-I mean cutthroat! Yeah, he's...he's cutthroat and sneaky. Plus he doesn't give me any backtalk-that's a_ _ **huge**_ _improvement over Sparemy! He seems like he's...really perfect... A-As Samey's replacement! That's what I meant! Don't take that out of context, you morons!"_

That one confessional was the first sign of my weakening resolve. A simple chip breaking off of a great stone wall. A single scratch in an ironclad suit of armor. Annoying? Yes. Problematic? Possibly. But easy to repair all the same. I just had to take care of it fast enough, and it'd be as if nothing happened.

Simply put, my repairs didn't happen fast enough. I was slow. Far, far too slow.

Before long, his every act was destroying all I'd built to protect myself. Small stone chips breaking away became entire bricks being forcefully removed. Scratches in the armor became huge, gaping holes, exposing the bare skin underneath. Attack after relentless attack came from him the more time we spent around each other. I tried to rebuild. I got meaner to him. Harsher. Bossier. Nastier. But nothing worked. The attacks just kept coming...

Why? Why hadn't I done something about this nonsense sooner?

"Amy, wait up, will ya?!"

Like clockwork, all thought processes stopped completely and my leg muscles seized at his command. Well...it was a request, really. He'd never try to control me. He knew better. And yet...my body was intent on bending to his will anyway.

No. I couldn't have it. I **wouldn't** have it! I was the master here, not him.

Eyes fixed on the beach yards ahead of me, I huffed and flipped some pale tresses over my shoulder. "I told you to back off, didn't I?! And I'm not even moving that fast! If you'd quit lagging behind like a slug all the time, we wouldn't have this problem!" The blood in my veins turned to magma as I took longer, faster strides away from him. But even then, the effort to put distance between us felt like more than it was worth. Screaming muscles, churning stomach, feet ten times the weight of cinderblocks, and a heart being held in the tightest stranglehold I'd ever felt. My body opposed my brain, fighting back as hard as it could. ' _What the hell is the matter with me today?'_

"Amy!"

My body's rebellion against me halted when I realized he'd caught up to me. As if his voice calling my name wasn't enough to shake me up inside, the sudden feeling of his fingers clasped around mine caused my heart to swell until it was damn near crushing my lungs. Any other time, I would have screamed at him to release me, but I'd just frozen in place, trying to will myself to breathe again.

My hitched breath did eventually return to my lungs, but by then, I'd been turned around, no longer facing the Pahkitew Island shores. No...now, I was face to face with **him**. ...and those eyes...those goddamn hypnotic eyes of his. The setting sun had set fire to those steel grey irises in a way I never thought I'd see. That or he was upset that I'd ignored him to continue my trek away from his presence. Or both.

"Will you take five seconds to at least tell me what the heck is wrong with you? You've never cancelled a planning session before. Not once."

Yeah, definitely a bit of both.

I groaned and tore my hand out of his grip before crossing my arms over my chest. "You seriously need me to tell you your next move? What kind of competitor are you?! You can't possibly be **that** brain dead. Figure it out yourself."

Equally defiant as I was, Scott shook his head, maintaining the stone expression on his pasty face. "It's got nothing to do with that. If we were gonna to be done with...whatever this is..." He motioned between the two of us before continuing on. "If this was ending already, you would have said something earlier, Amy."

"Get over yourself!" As I snapped at him, my arms unfolded and my fists clenched tightly at my sides. "You **knew** this was going to be temporary! Just because I didn't tell you it was going to be over today doesn't mean a thi-"

"You're lying to me through your teeth, Amy, and you know it."

"E...Excuse you?! Who do you think you're talking to like that?! Who's in charge here again?!"

"Nobody if what you're claiming about this is true. And either way, this needs to be said, so I'm gonna say it. That cool with you?"

Cold seriousness clashed with scolding fury over and over, and finally, one side overpowered the other. I screamed at the top of my lungs, digging my nails into my scalp for what felt like ages.

...and then I stopped.

Sighing heavily, I let my arms fall to my sides, standing still as death itself. Waves of concern rushed over me from the ocean of sheer confusion calling itself Scott, and that just managed to frustrate me more.

Finally, my teal hues slowly drifted upwards, locking with steel grey all over again. Annoyed as he was, all that showed in Scott's eyes now was worry. Worry for me and me alone. I didn't know whether to smile at him for that or go into a second bout of banshee like screams. "... Talk. Now. Before I change my mind."

A curt nod was all I received before he spoke again. Watching his eyes harden was like watching wax shape itself around a wick. Every moment passed and every word spoken helped his candle eyes take their form. "I know you, Amy. Better than you think I do. If this was gonna be over when the teams merged, you would have told me from the beginning. All you said was we'd work together until Jasmine's gone and away from your sister. Last I checked, those two are still very much a thing right now. Or have I been hallucinating these past few days and nobody bothered to tell me?"

His words made my limbs quake and my cheeks come to a boil. He wasn't wrong. I hated it when he wasn't wrong. Was my little redneck always this smart? ... Wait... **my** redneck? "Ugh! He's not yours! He never was! What is wrong with you?!"

"... What are you talking about?"

My eyes shot open and my blood froze over in my veins. There's no way, no God given way, I would say that out loud! And yet... When I looked up, I saw Scott staring me in the eyes, looking just as red in the face as I probably was. Why? Why did I scream those words out loud, for him and anyone else to hear?!

I groaned heavily at first, but then I decided it was time to elaborate. There was no point in keeping my thoughts quiet anymore. "You heard me! You're not mine, Scott! You're not mine, and you never were!"

Smack!

Wide eyed, Scott slowly turned his head back in my direction, the force of my slap having turned his head to one side. "... Oww?!"

"You're a replacement! Nothing else! You're not mine, and I'm sure as hell not yours!" A backhanded smack from the other side forced him to step backwards, but I reacted in kind, keeping the distance the same as before. He wasn't going anywhere.

"It doesn't matter what you do!"

Another slap.

"No matter how many times you smile at me!"

Slap.

"No matter how many times you hold me in your arms and make me feel stronger out of nowhere!"

Slap.

"No matter how many times you make me laugh at that stupid Jasmine impression of yours!"

Slap.

"No matter how many times you tickle the life out of me on the beach and make me get sand all in my hair!"

Slap.

"No matter how many times you go out of your own way to save my life for NO DAMN REASON AT ALL!"

I kicked him that time. Kicked him just hard enough in the stomach that he fell to the ground. Then I stood on top of him, hands on my hips and a high heel pinning him down by his chest while I stared him down. I already felt better. This was the natural order of things, I was certain. Seeing him dominated by me like this made towers and walls of soulless ice build themselves around my spirit. He'd never break me again. Not ever. That knowledge made my lips curl up in a smirk. "You're not mine... I'm not yours... We don't **need** each other. I can drop you to force Samey to do my dirty work all over again, and it won't change a thing. ... Everything's gonna be normal soon... Everything's gonna be just fine for me... It's all gonna be fine..."

But even as I said those words, something just felt...off. Something still had to be said, but I couldn't think of anything else to say.

Scott sure did, though. The way that calm smile slowly tugged at his lips was more than enough to tell me that. But what confused me was that chuckle. It wasn't that devilish snicker I'd grown so used to. It was so...warm. So lighthearted. There was no reason for that. Not that I could see.

I growled and dug my heel deeper into his skin, but following the initial wince, he just chuckled some more and looked straight at me. I'd never seen that look in his eyes before. That mix of bliss and understanding all at once...for all I'd just done to him, how the hell did a face like that make any logical sense? "... What the goddamn hell do you have to smile about right now?!"

Clearly ignoring the fact that it was hurting him, Scott let his fingers clasp around my leg, running from my mid calf up to my knee. We'd found out that particular motion had a way of soothing me pretty quickly, and without fail, it was working again this time. But just when I felt relaxed again...

"... I really like you, too, Amy."

' _... What? ... WHAT?!'_

Before I'd processed his words fully, I gasped loudly and covered my mouth with both hands, taking a few steps backwards with eyes I was sure were wide as saucers right then. No way. There's no possible what I'd heard him right.

Every single sensation associated with my surroundings was intensified all of a sudden, especially when it came to Scott. As he rose from his position on the ground, I was all but forced take in everything he was. The usually dull tangerine spikes on his head shined in the light of the setting sun, the freckles cascading from his face down to his toned chest and shoulders popped out even more against his pasty skin, every twitch that made his smile grow was more pronounced than it should have been, and those eyes, once ablaze with frustration, still warmed me up as if trying to replace the sun itself. Hyper awareness or no, I was too stunned to move away from him before he could take my hands in his own. "... I'm not a normal guy. I know that. No normal person likes being bossed around anywhere near as much as I do. ...and we both know I'm not the smartest guy, either. But even I'm not stupid enough to be unaware of what's going on here... I'm pretty sure you see it, too, Amy."

"I-I..." Though I was slow about it, I shook my head and took a step backwards. "No... S-Stop it. This is stupid."

But he just kept going, even going so far as to reclaim my hands with his own. Apparently, my command had come off as more of a suggestion to him. "I wondered for a while why you got progressively meaner to me. I knew the way you treated me was...I guess special would be the best way to put it."

No...not again. My fortress of ice was melting and cracking already. I could feel it. I shut my eyes tight and shook my head. "N-No! There's nothing special about it!"

Scott's easy demeanor didn't waver as he twirled some of my blonde strands around his finger. "It's ok, Amy. I get it now. All of the different sides of you that I've gotten to see over these past few weeks... Knowing I'd seen them just scared you. ... You're not good at letting yourself get close to people either, are you?"

I shook my head again, feeling the last of my defenses ready to disappear. That couldn't be it. There had to be something else. "No! I told you, no! Y-You're just annoying! You're useless and annoying! You deserve for me to yell and scream and hurt you as much as I can!"

Those rough, calloused fingers found their way to the small of my back, making me regret my cheer uniform's bared midriff as he pulled me into his form. "... I feel stronger with you in my arms, too, Amy. Holding you like this...it makes me happier. It always has."

Those were the final words. The words that broke me down completely. They sounded suspiciously like millions of tons of ice shattering to pieces all at once. "SCREW YOU!"

...

And then I cried.

No, I didn't just cry. I bawled. Bawled my eyes out right into that infuriatingly rock hard chest of his. No way in hell was he getting the satisfaction of actually seeing my face as I cried over what he was saying to me. I was already embarrassed enough as it was.

Scott didn't seem to have any objections, though. In fact, he seemed perfectly happy to just stand there, running his fingers through my hair over and over again. I forgot how he found out that this relaxed me, too, but I didn't really care. I'd only care if he stopped before I was done crying.

Quite the opposite happened, though. I was finished with the bulk of my sobbing pretty quickly, but we both must have known there was more. So he waited. He waited until every tiny little sob that wanted to force its way out of my throat had disappeared and I had no more tears left to cry. I felt a chill drift past my legs when I was finished. Was it dark out already?

I would have looked into the sky for myself, but having Scott tilt my head upwards and face him gave me my answer regardless. It wasn't dark enough to completely obscure his features, least of all the warm glow in his eyes. I'd seen that light in him so many times, and the closer it got, the more terrified I became. But...why? After all that crying, it's like I was starting to wake up from being under a sleeping spell for hundreds of years. Now, I couldn't even fathom why and how something so beautiful could have been scary to me? "... I like you a lot, Amy...I mean it."

My heart swelled again as I listened to him, but I didn't feel suffocated like before. I felt...weightless. Like I could drift away on the island's breath. "... I-I know...a-and I think I like you, too..."

That tricky trademark smirk tugged at Scott's lips while he quirked an eyebrow upwards. "You _think_ , huh?"

I laughed softly and gave him a little shove in the shoulder, but all the same, I shook my head to make myself perfectly clear. "N-No, I...I know, Scott... I like you, too...a lot..." If I felt anymore weightless, I would have flown off into the stratosphere somewhere. I came back down to earth when I remembered what I'd done to his face earlier, though. Any trace of a smile slipped away before I kissed both of his cheeks. "... I shouldn't have slapped you like that."

"I've had worse done to me." With a soft chuckle, Scott kissed my forehead before looking down into my eyes. He was smiling, but I could see that hardness in his eyes again. "More importantly, though... You're really into me. I'm really into you. Are we doing something about this or not?"

Thank God. A guy who's actually straightforward about this stuff. I was sure I'd have to wait until at least my thirties before I found someone like that. Still...the fact that he'd been so matter of fact about this threw me through a loop for the same reasons I'd been wanting someone to do that for years. And other reasons. Plenty of other reasons. "... I just had an emotional breakdown just trying to accept that I like you. Do we have to decide this now?"

Scott's entire demeanor relaxed before he laughed and shook his head. "No, I guess not." Even though he seemed to understand where I was coming from, that didn't stop him from holding me tightly to his chest and speaking his next few words. "Doesn't mean I'm not ready to compete alongside you from now on, ok? ... We'll make sure the rest of these losers know who the empress really is around here. I promise."

I couldn't help laughing and staring up at him again. "You're an empress now?"

After smirking and poking me in one of the ticklish spots on my lower back, drawing a squeaky yelp out of me in the process, Scott touched his forehead to mine and eased into a relaxed smile. "That's just what I always called you in my head... Ya know, 'cause you're definitely the ruler between us two. ...and queen and princess have been done before, but I heard an empress is a step above a queen, so...ya know..." Instead of completing that thought, he just shrugged those broad, freckled shoulders of his. Somehow, even that was adorable to me.

I couldn't stop myself from kissing him on the nose before giggling softly and staring into the light of his eyes. Everything felt like it was falling into place now. A Red Sea of smoke, ash and dust still clouded my mind with uncertainty, but it parted for the ray of hopeful sunlight that was the redneck's... **my** redneck's gaze. Eyes holding that kind of power...they could only belong to a warrior. A champion. No...better than that. "Well...that would have to make you my emperor then, wouldn't it?"

Even in the growing darkness, I could see Scott's eyes light up even brighter than before. That boy could put any Christmas tree and the entirety of Las Vegas to shame at the same time. But before he could respond to me, a nearby loudspeaker crackled to life, assaulting our eardrums with the voice of a certain host we'd both quickly learned to despise.

"Campers! Seems like it's that time of the week again. Haul your butts over to the campfire. It's time to see which one of you is getting launched in the slingshot tonight! Hehe... I'm particularly excited for this one. See ya there!"

I let myself groan and roll my eyes the minute Chris's nightmarish, ungodly voice was no longer emitting from the speakers. "Who's bright idea was it for a giant slingshot to be the elimination device for the season anyway?"

I could tell Scott was as annoyed as I was, but he shrugged the whole thing off and smiled at me regardless. "Well, it not too different from what the two of us are used to, anyway."

"True." After letting out another giggle, I separated myself from him and took the first few steps towards the campfire, snapping my fingers in his direction. "C'mon! The sooner we get there, the sooner we get to hopefully see Jasmine get flung a few hundred yards."

Before I'd gotten too far away, however, I was suddenly lifted off my feet. I squealed at first, entirely caught off guard, but I calmed down once I saw who it was that was carrying me. Even in the growing darkness of night, that freckle faced smile still made me light up on the inside.

Once I'd realized what was going on, I laughed and gently grasped onto his shoulders. If nothing else, I didn't want to let myself fall. "What do you think you're doing, huh?"

"Let's do some planning after the ceremony, ok?" Scott kissed me on the forehead, then whispered to me the rest of his thought. "Your sister and Jasmine are old news. We're gonna make this whole damn island and everyone on it part of your empire before we're gone."

That's when I felt it. The groundwork for a new fortress being built. I could feel the fortress and palace being built anew as I was carried off, only this one would be twice the size of the first. A haven fit for an emperor to finally unite with his hidden empress. "...Our. Definitely **our** empire."

"... Yeah, ok, I like that better."

"Good. I don't plan on changing it."


End file.
